Best Laid Plans
by godfatherambs
Summary: Jason Morgan’s best friend, Elizabeth Webber, is in love with Johnny O’Brien, who is in love with Lulu Spencer. Elizabeth is determined to break up the happy couple, even if it takes Jason's help, but what happens when the wrong one starts to fall for her
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Johnny O'Brien, the love of Elizabeth's Webber life, was most definitely _not_ in love with her.

Why?

Because Lulu Spencer, the bleached blonde woman sitting across from her was the supposed love of Johnny O'Brien's life.

None of which sat well with Elizabeth at all.

It didn't help that Jason Morgan, her best friend, had withheld this oh so important truth prior to this dinner.

Not to mention that he was on his fourth beer, stuffing his face with rolls, and blatantly ignoring her glare.

Nothing about this night was turning out the way it was supposed to.

"John was telling me you have a gallery opening in a few weeks?" Lulu cooed, brushing her blonde hair gently from her shoulders, as she leaned against Johnny so that their shoulders were touching.

John?

Since when was that a nickname he ever cared for?

As long as Elizabeth could remember he had been Johnny, or Johnny O, or O'Brien, but _never_ fucking John. Or John O, which sounded like a ridiculous name for a shitty super hero. And John O'Brien? It sounded like the name for a fucking door to door vacuum salesman, and unless the love of her life had changed his profession, this was seriously a problem.

"Elizabeth?" Johnny asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

She met his tender gaze briefly, getting lost in the curve of his nervous smile, and it was only after someone kicked her, presumably Jason, that she was able to focus. "Uh, the art opening," she nodded, taking a deep breath, and reaching for her second glass of red wine.

Tequila, now that was what she needed, but she had a feeling that if she ordered a round of Patron heads would turn at the _Port Charles Grille_.

"The end of the month," she said, plastering on a smile, and looking across at Lulu.

She was somewhat pretty. _If_ you got passed the bleached blonde hair and pasty, freckled skin. Elizabeth had pale skin, but it was creamy and beautiful, the only physical trait she admired about herself…At least Lulu's eyes were nice. Big, round, and blue, though they widened far too much when got excited, which was all the fucking time.

"That's so exciting," Lulu replied, clasping her hands together, and Elizabeth cringed, worried she was going to start clapping. "John says you're very talented. I would love to see some of your stuff."

Stuff?

She was calling Elizabeth's paintings stuff?

Her abstract series on Italian landmarks?

Her charcoal self-portrait that brought the gallery owner to tears?

Her paintings were _not_ stuff. They were the blood, sweat, and god damn tears of the past four years of Elizabeth's life. How dare this stupid, little tramp come along and not only steal the love of her life, but also insult her by- "Elizabeth?"

She shifted her attention back to Johnny, staring into his soft, chocolate eyes, only to have their trance interrupted by Lulu leaning over to give him a disgustingly loud kiss on the cheek.

Swallowing hard, she reached for her wine, desperate to wash away any desire to upchuck all over the beautiful, white tablecloth. That was mostly because Edward Quartermaine would probably charge her to have it dry-cleaned, which she would refuse, but then he would sue her…And well, she wasn't in the mood to put all her eggs into one basket for a stained tablecloth.

Especially when it was Lulu Spencer's fault.

"I have to go to the ladies room," Lulu announced, as if saying she had just donated a million dollars to fund cancer research.

Elizabeth glanced at Johnny, briefly wondering if he was going to applaud. Instead, he looked across the table at his friend, raising an eyebrow at her, and tossing his head towards his girlfriend.

"Oh, well," Elizabeth said, placing her cloth napkin delicately down on the table. "I'll go with you."

"Great," she replied, flashing her a toothy grin. "We need to have some girl talk."

Jason grunted beside her, quickly stuffing another roll into his mouth, and waving at the waiter for another beer. Gripping the arms of her chair, Elizabeth stretched her short legs, and dug the heel of her stiletto into her best friend's shin.

"Son of a bitch," he growled, spitting pieces of bread onto the table.

"Jason," Johnny hissed, gritting his teeth, and motioning towards Lulu.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes in disbelief. Leave it Johnny O'Brien, the only person who knew words that would make a sailor blush, to find a woman turned off by cursing. Judging from Lulu's appearance; a neatly pressed khaki skirt, and a starched, button down blouse, with a pale blue sweater tied over her shoulders. She was the kind of girl that Johnny made fun of in high school.

Or maybe she was the kind of girl who made fun of Johnny?

"Are you ready?" Elizabeth asked, when she realized Lulu was still sitting down.

"Of course," she replied, clutching her purse tightly in her fist, making sure not to ruin her perfectly manicured nails. "John?"

"Sorry about that, baby," he murmured, getting up and hurrying around to the back of her chair.

Elizabeth nearly gagged, and probably would have thrown herself down on the floor into a hissy fit, had she not seen Jason shaking his head from the corner of her eye.

_Asshole_, she mouthed, and he not so slyly gave her the finger, as he held out his hand to take a fresh beer from the waiter.

Jason Morgan was going to get one hell of a talking to the second Elizabeth got him alone, and maybe even a black eye. He knew why she was so excited to see Johnny, and that she finally wanted to be honest about everything she's ever felt, and Jason had failed to mention that Johnny had found the love of his life.

It had been over a year since O'Brien left town for Europe, where he planned on expanding his coffee business with Jason, who refused to travel for business ventures. According to him, Europe was meant to be seen, not worked in, and Jason only used his passport for recreational purposes.

When she arrived at the _Port Charles Grille_ just an hour ago, Elizabeth's knees were shaking, and her stomach was filled with butterflies. They spent years avoiding their feelings, finally making admissions the day before Johnny was leaving town. In a way, she was anticipating this moment from the very time he left, and she knew that he wasn't just coming back for business, but also for her.

So imagine Elizabeth's surprise when she threw herself into her other best friend's arms, after being apart for a year, only to have her eyes land on the tiny, blue eyed, blonde behind him.

"Elizabeth! It's so good to meet you!" the blonde had shrieked, throwing her arms around the brunette the second that she and Johnny stepped apart. "John has told me such wonderful things about you. I'm so excited to finally know the girl behind all the stories."

Elizabeth had smiled meekly, failing to catch Jason's eye over the girl's shoulder, and that was when his ignorance began. She was surely going to make him pay for this later.

"This is Lulu," Johnny said, taking the woman by the hand, and grinning at Elizabeth. "I've been dying for you to meet her from the very second I laid eyes on her."

Swallowing hard, Elizabeth put on a tight-lipped smile. "Well, it's nice to meet you," she lied, extending her hand, only to have the girl throw her arms around her again.

This time Elizabeth caught Jason's eye, and he held her gaze long enough to mouth sorry, before looking away.

_Sorry?_

Well, Jason could have told her Johnny was bringing home some trick he picked up in the Red Light District.

Glancing at Lulu, she quickly retracted that thought. There was no way this woman had come from Amsterdam. It had to be Paris. Or London. Somewhere sophisticated and stylish, and her parents were obviously investors in the coffee business. And that had to be why Johnny was involved with her.

Of course, Elizabeth was wrong.

Johnny had thrown an arm over her shoulder, pulling her into a headlock as he pressed a kiss on the top of her head. "What do you think about her?" he asked seriously. "You know how much your opinion matters to me."

_I like her shoes_, she thought to herself. Though she knew a woman that looked like Lulu couldn't appreciate five-inch stilettos.

"She seems great," she murmured, swallowing the lie as if that would make it disappear, and that was enough to please Johnny.

During their first drinks, Johnny and Lulu gave a poetic retelling of their romance. Well, everyone had drinks but Lulu, because the petite gal didn't believe in drinking alcohol, and reminded _John_ to watch his intake.

Apparently, they bumped into one another at the Eiffel Tower, while Johnny was very drunk. And somehow she found it adorable, giggling that she knew she had to save him from himself. They had dinner every night the following week, and the rest was just history.

Yes, they had said just that, and then exchanged some terrible lover's gaze that told Jason and Elizabeth they were thinking about one another naked.

It was just disgusting in every possible way, and now, Elizabeth was standing in the ladies room at the _Port Charles Grille_, watching this love-of-her-life thief powder her nose.

"I have to admit," Lulu murmured, catching Elizabeth's eyes in the mirror. "I was so nervous to meet you…From the very first night that I met John, all he talked about was you, the girl he'd left back home…And I thought for sure he was in love with you, but he quickly assured me you were just his best friend."

Sighing happily, she slipped her compact into her tiny, Kate Spade bag, and turned to face her. "I assumed that maybe you were in love with him, but he laughed that comment off too," she continued, placing a hand on Elizabeth's shoulder. "I know he holds you in the highest regard, and it's really important to me that you like me, and think I'm good enough for him, Elizabeth…I really do love him."

"I can see that," she squeaked out, her voice shaky, as Lulu pulled her into yet another hug.

Seriously, she was giving Elizabeth a hardcore uh-oh feeling with all this incessant touching.

"I mean, I know that if you said I was rotten or terrible, he would probably run away from so fast," Lulu said, stepping back from the hug. "And I just…Well, I think I've loved him from the very first time-"

"I get it," Elizabeth interrupted, as the door swung open, and two elderly women hobbled inside. "You obviously make him very happy. He's nothing like the man I remember."

She laughed, well, kind of. Some may have called it a snort, but Elizabeth wasn't in the mood to get into technicalities at this point.

"My mother always said that behind every good man, there is a fabulous woman," she replied with a grin, her eyes wide and sparkling.

Okay, they looked more mad and crazed than anything, but Elizabeth was attempting to be kind.

"And I just want to be that fabulous woman for him," she finished, clasping her hands together, and staring at the brunette.

Elizabeth wondered if she should clap, or pull out a trumpet, just something to make her stop staring at her like that. "I understand," she replied, flashing the worst fake grin at the blonde. "I'm glad he's happy…_With you_."

That seemed to be enough for Lulu, and she grabbed Elizabeth by the hand, and led her back into the restaurant. She linked their fingers tightly together, bumping shoulders with Elizabeth, as if she were some old girlfriend.

Dear God, why did she suddenly feel as if she were living out some Sweet Valley High novel? She read this book, and she knew how it ended. The good girl _always_ got fucked in the end. And not in a good way, either.

"Sorry that took so long," Lulu called out, letting go of Elizabeth's hand, to stand behind her chair as she waited for Johnny to pull it out.

Elizabeth noticed Jason start to get up, as if to do the same for her, and she shot him a mean glare, to which he shrugged and rolled his eyes. She really might kill him if she was alone with him long enough.

"You know girls when they get to gabbing," she continued, smiling sweetly at Johnny.

Elizabeth gagged under her breath when they shared their thinking about each other naked gaze, and she felt Jason's foot stomp her's beneath the table.

_Asshole_, she mouthed again, flinging her napkin at him.

"Settle down kids," Lulu laughed, as she stepped around Johnny to take her seat, only to stop suddenly and gasp loudly. "John, what's that?"

Jason swore under his breath beside her, and Elizabeth craned her neck trying to figure out what in the hell Johnny and Ms. Paris were over there looking at.

"Well, uh, I guess now's as good as time as any," Johnny replied, smiling painfully at his girlfriend.

Stooping down, he picked something up off the floor, and a soft murmur came across the restaurant.

Oh, no.

"John!" she exclaimed, placing a hand against her chest.

Oh, hell fucking no.

"Lulu…" he replied, and Elizabeth glanced at Jason, who was hanging his head, knowing damn well not to look in her direction.

Reaching for her wine glass, Elizabeth plastered on a smile, knowing she had to get tequila soon.

Like _now_.

Especially if she ever wanted to forget the size and cut of the diamond ring nestled in Johnny O'Brien's palm, cementing the fact that the love-of-her-life was most definitely in love with someone else.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"What the hell are you doing?" Jason barked rounding the wall by the pool table to find Elizabeth slumped against the wall; a bottle of Patron nestled in her lap.

She was barefoot and still wearing the black cocktail dress from dinner, having discarded the matching five inch stilettos by the door. Her hair was pulled into a loose bun at the nape of her neck, leaving several loose curls to lay delicately against her face.

"It's empty," she whined, holding the bottle up without looking at him. She was still seething from dinner, and she refused to let her best friend get off so easily.

"I know," he replied, taking the bottle, and replacing it with a paper bag.

"Aw, Jas," she murmured, slipping the fresh bottle of Patron, and two neon orange, plastic shot glasses from the bag. "You shouldn't have."

"I went to your apartment," he said, stepping over her legs, and sitting down beside her.

"Is he still giving these away for free?" she asked, handing him one of the glasses that their favorite liquor store kept behind the counter.

"Fifty cents, but I know you like them," he replied, setting his down beside him. "You didn't drive, did you?"

"Cab," she muttered, fussing with the tequila. "Oh, fuck. Open this, will ya?...And don't laugh at me, Morgan. You're on my shit list."

Shaking his head, Jason easily plucked the cork from the glass, and handed the bottle back to Elizabeth.

"You pour," she said, slumping back against the wall, and sliding down so that she was half laying on the hardwood floor.

She would have enjoyed the sight of the overpriced, but such good quality tequila, being dispensed into her neon orange shot glass, except her heart hurt too much.

Turning her body so that she could see him, she flicked the rim of his glass. "Friends don't let friends drink alone, Morgan," she reminded him, waiting patiently for him to pour a drink for himself.

"Cheers to Paris," she slurred, clicking her plastic rim against his, only to slosh liquor onto the floor.

She shivered when the liquor caused a warm burst to go throughout her body and immediately reached for a refill. "You went to my apartment?" she asked, and he nodded. "I'm not there."

"Obviously," he replied, the hint of a smile tugging at his lips.

"Did you drive?" she asked, arching an eyebrow at him.

"No, I called my driver," he replied, taking the bottle from him when he noticed how unsteady her hand was. "Let me."

"Please," she said, sighing heavily, and closing her eyes. Tequila was supposed to make her feel better, not worse. "How in the fuck could you not tell me about her, Jason?"

"Jason?" Her eyes flashed open to find his cerulean orbs that were staring back at her. "How could you-"

"Elizabeth, I didn't know," he cut in, frowning as he tossed back another shot.

"You didn't know?" she pressed, slamming her glass down onto the floor without taking it. "Johnny's your business partner…You two talk five times a day…How could you not know he was planning on getting engaged to some Paris smitten tramp?"

She was too drunk to speak eloquently, though she imagined she wouldn't have come up with better names sober. Lulu Spencer, the love-of-her-life thief, wasn't worth the energy.

"You know how he is," Jason groaned, wiping at the puddle of liquor on the floor with his fingertips. "He's always talking about women…And if I remember correctly, I'm pretty sure he called her Lola the first time he mentioned her.

Elizabeth grunted, rocking her head and shoulders from side to side. "She was a showgirl…Her name was Lola," was all she got out before bursting into a fit of laughter. "Can you imagine what she thinks about showgirls?"

"Whores?" he offered, raising his eyebrows at her, his familiar, comfortable smile spreading over his face.

"Oh, the worst possible kind," she replied, leaning over and nudging him with her elbow. "You really didn't know?"

"If I would have known, I wouldn't have let you prepare yourself for such a declaration," he murmured, drying his hand off on his jeans.

"The declaration of a lifetime," she reminded him, cradling her face in her hands. "God, what was I thinking?"

"That Johnny wouldn't come back with _her_," he replied, popping the cork off the bottle and taking a long sip out of it.

"Tastes better that way, doesn't it?" Elizabeth teased, holding her hand out for a sip. She coughed, rubbing her hand against her chest, when she drank more than she should have.

"Take it easy," Jason said, placing a hand gently on her back.

Tequila was supposed to do wonders. Erase the bad, and bring out the good. It sure as hell wasn't supposed to leave her feeling completely lonely and heartbroken.

"I don't think this is going to work," she murmured, setting the bottle down beside her and moving to crawl towards the pool table. She gripped the edge with her hands, slowly pulling herself to a standing position. Her knees buckled slightly, but then Jason was beside her to hold her up.

"I think you're drunk," he muttered.

"I think my love affair is over," she whispered, somehow managing to hoist herself onto the edge of the pool table, because there was no way in hell she was going to try and walk to the couch.

"Something tells me you're not talking about tequila," he said, planting a hand on either side of her legs, and looking her in the face.

She shook her head. "Tequila is the greatest love of my life," she replied, tipping her head back and grinning.

Raising a hand to his face, she smoothed the loose strands of blonde hair from his forehead. It was longer than he normally let it get it, but she liked it. Especially when it fell into his eyes and the pools of blue peeked through, almost like they were some kind of secret.

"Don't cut your hair," she ordered, tapping her thumb against his temple.

"Promise?" she asked when he nodded.

"Promise," he replied, with a heavy sigh. "But only if you promise not to let this consume you."

"No guarantees there," she said, dropping her hand back into her lap. "When he left, I thought when he came back…"

"It would be for you," Jason finished, clearing his throat.

"For me," she repeated, staring down at her lap.

Her friendship, if you could call it that, with O'Brien had always been complicated from the first day they met. Though, the same could be said for Jason.

She was seven years old and crying on the playground because Lucky Spencer smashed her paper Mache globe. Johnny O'Brien was two years older, and taunted her by calling her a cry baby, which only made things worse. Out of the nowhere, Jason Quartermaine appeared and started to help her collect the pieces, and for some reason, Johnny apologized. She learned soon after that Jason was the leader, Johnny the follower, and her role would fall somewhere in between.

During her teenage years, her mother called it inappropriate, scolding her for running around with two of the most rambunctious boys in town. Elizabeth had no close girlfriends, finding solace only in her boys, and the three of them promised to always brave the world together. They'd survived numerous heartaches, declarations of independence, and the most difficult of all, the accident that left Jason in a coma, only for him to wake up and not remember that he was Jason Quartermaine. So together, Elizabeth and Johnny stood by Jason Morgan, when his family pushed him away, in turn creating a family of their own.

Johnny was loud and bossy, always teasing her about every little thing. He was rough and rude with nearly everyone, but then so tender and careful when it came to her. And somewhere in between it all, she realized she liked that about him. Though, the same could also be said for Jason.

It was difficult to take on the load that was Jason Morgan, when she had grown up with any entirely different boy. The Quartermaine Jason was the most gorgeous and most desired boy at school. He was the golden child, heir to a family fortune, and girls swooned every time he looked at them with those baby blue eyes.

Elizabeth always felt special because he spent more time with her than any other girl. Granted, it wasn't at all romantic, at least not to him, but she had always harbored a secret crush on him during her teen years. Maybe even from the moment he complimented her on the paper Mache globe. Her teenager years were spent scribbling names on notebooks, playing Mash, and having secret pop songs that she considered theirs. It all sounded so ridiculous when she looked back on it.

And then his accident changed everything.

AJ Quartermaine, the family drunk, drove Jason into a tree two weeks after high school graduation, and it was as though the world literally stopped. Specialists were flown in from all over the country, but the majority of those that loved him gave up hope. It was only Elizabeth and Johnny who sat by his bed every single day, reading books, rehashing old times, and reminding him of the promises they had made together.

Elizabeth was a mess for the three month period, and she knew had Johnny not been there, she would have never survived it. Jason Quartermaine had always been her rock, her safe place whenever the world failed her, and the constant reminder that she would be okay.

She was just as close to Johnny, but he was different. He was the boy that never stopped teasing her from that moment on the playground, but he was also the boy who could make her laugh like no one else. He knew the dirtiest jokes, drank the best booze, and never let anyone fuck with Elizabeth Webber.

As mean as it sounds, she never really took him seriously because his attitude was so carefree. Elizabeth knew early on, he was going to follow Jason through life, free loading and partying on someone else's wallet. Johnny was like a real life Peter Pan, destined to be a boy for life, until he lost the lifeline that connected him to his childhood.

The possibility of Jason never waking up haunted the two of them, and it was that fear that pushed Johnny O'Brien into becoming a full fledged man. He took care of Elizabeth so well during those months, that it rivaled anything Jason Quartermaine had ever done for her. And soon enough, Johnny was her safe place, and she found herself relying on him more than she ever had Jason.

Especially after their friend woke up.

Understandably, Jason was so frustrated and angry with everyone around him. They wanted Jason Quartermaine; the golden boy and future CEO of ELQ. He acted erratically and harshly, oftentimes purposely hurting those around him, opting to retreat inside himself than to deal with everyone.

At first, it broke Elizabeth's heart to lose this boy who was so much a part of her, but with time and a lot of patience, she and Johnny managed to get through to Jason Morgan. They had to force him to see they weren't holding on to who he was, but simply wanted to be there for who he became.

To Johnny and Elizabeth, he was the best possible friend, warm and caring, but others saw him as stone faced and hard. He was playful when it was appropriate, and it was a side he often shared only with her and Johnny. He trusted wholeheartedly, expecting the same in return, and would shut someone out the first time they fell short. He never said things he didn't mean, and he always told the truth, even when it hurt.

Smiling, she tipped her head back and looked him in the face, scolding herself for ever thinking he would lie to her about Lulu.

Lulu.

That God damn thieving tramp.

Okay, so she didn't know she was stealing the love of Elizabeth's life, but still.

"This is his entire fault," she murmured, at first not realizing she was speaking aloud.

Jason nodded, and Elizabeth knew he was falling into that awkward place of being stuck between them, as he had been for years.

She wasn't sure when she fell in love with Johnny O'Brien. It may have been that day in the hospital when he pulled her sobbing form into his arms, rocking her until she stopped. Or it may have been the night he punched Lucky Spencer in the face for being rude to her at _Jake's._

Then again, she was almost positive it was the night before he left town, nearly a year ago.

His father had died six years ago, leaving his only son the coffee bean fortune, and he and Jason had been partners ever since. There were a few investors interested overseas, and he told her he was leaving, seeing as Jason wasn't really the business venture type. He preferred the manual side; working in the warehouse, going over invoices, and fighting for space on the docks. And they both agreed Johnny was far better at bullshitting and taking people's money.

Elizabeth had confessed that she didn't want him to leave, saying that she had never been without him. He'd laughed, telling her she would still have Jason, and that it wouldn't be for long. He walked her home, taking her hand in his somewhere along the way, and then kissed her goodbye in the hallway of her studio. Seconds later, Elizabeth had pulled him inside, and they were making out and groping like teenagers, only to have Johnny stop things before they went too far.

"Leave me something to come back for, Webber," he whispered, curling up beside her and kissing her chastely.

"Stupid, son of a bitch," she hissed, rubbing her palms against her face. She caught Jason's frown and pointed a finger at him. "Don't look at me like that, Morgan…Go eat a roll or something."

He laughed, grabbing her hands, and pulling her off the table. "Come on, Webber," he murmured, tugging one of her arms over his shoulder, and lifting her into his arms. "Let's get your sorry, drunk ass to bed."

"I resent that," she replied, burying her face into his chest, and breathing him in. He always smelled like soap and leather, and she found something comforting about that.

"You should," he said, carrying her up the steps and down the hallway to the guest bedroom, which might as well have been her's.

She hated living alone. Being alone. Eating alone. And constantly nagged Jason to do all of those things with her once Johnny was gone.

It was funny when she thought about how close they'd grown in the last year. Despite their friendship, he had remained relatively private about a lot of things, but Elizabeth had forced him out of his shell.

Sometimes she couldn't get over how different Morgan was from Quartermaine, and others she found herself relatively pleased that he had changed. Jason Morgan loved her art enough to spend hours having her explain the colors and concepts, seeing as his accident had left him somewhat impaired in that department. And he taught her everything there was to know about Italy, her favorite city that she had never visited.

"It's so weird," she said, when her back hit the mattress, and Jason tugged the crisp sheets over her body.

"What?" he asked, crossing the room to the dresser, and pulling out a t-shirt.

He laid it on the nightstand, and Elizabeth knew that he knew she was too drunk to change. It was the gesture that mattered anyway.

She rolled onto her stomach, pressing her face into the pillow. "How things change."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"You can't go on like this," Jason muttered, sitting down on the side of the bed, and pulling the comforter away from Elizabeth's face.

Groaning, she rolled onto her side, her lashes fluttering to reveal her sad, ocean eyes. "I can do whatever I want, Morgan."

"Eat," he growled, setting the saucer with a piece of toast down on the nightstand. "And get up and shower. You're starting to smell."

"I didn't ask you to come in here," she pointed out, pushing herself up so that her back rested against the headboard. She raked her fingers through her tangled curls and tucked her hair behind her ears.

"This is my penthouse," he reminded her, unscrewing the lid on a bottle of water, and holding it out to her. "You've got to get it together, Elizabeth."

"I need to wallow," she murmured, not realizing just how dehydrated she was until she handed back the empty bottle seconds later.

She scratched at her tangled, unwashed hair and folded her arms across her chest, causing his t-shirt she was wearing to bunch up in the front. It only made her look more unkempt, not to mention the dark rings beneath her eyes and the frown lines on her forehead.

One look and he just knew that Elizabeth Webber was a complete mess.

"I'm worried about you," he said, setting the bottle on the nightstand and grabbing a piece of toast.

She had been lying in bed for the past two days, leaving only for tequila, and sometimes toast, since it was the only thing she said she could stomach. Johnny and Lulu had stopped by several times, and Jason told them she was refusing to leave the bedroom. When Johnny tried to get her to leave, she griped about her period, which was far too much information for either man.

As well as a lie, that Jason had been forced to go along with.

He couldn't rightly explain to Johnny that Elizabeth was crushed by the fact that he'd brought home a woman, instead of a few trinkets and postcards. Not to mention that Johnny expected her to befriend and cherish Lulu as much as he did.

Johnny O'Brien was all too often the world's biggest idiot.

Sure, the man had business smarts, and was capable of landing a deal with the snap of his fingers. But he was all brawn and little brain, especially when it came to women, and that was something Johnny would willingly admit.

"Don't you have coffee beans or something to worry about?" she asked, arching an eyebrow as she tore a bite sized piece of toast from his hand.

"I can work from home," he replied, watching as she popped the toast into her mouth and chewed slowly.

It wasn't like Elizabeth to curl into a ball when life kicked her down. She was feisty and bold, never failing to get her point across, as well as what she wanted. It was one of the many things he admired about her. Unfortunately, he had to admit that things were probably not in her favor this time around, but he wasn't going to point this out.

Instead he took a bite of the toast and chewed right along with her.

Johnny had been so busy in the last year, opening and establishing their overseas accounts, that even Jason had lost a lot of contact with his best friend. The handful of times they actually talked about their lives, instead of having a conversation about business or exchanging emails, he'd barely mentioned Lulu. He was as surprised as Elizabeth when he picked his friend up from the airport only to find that he had a woman in tow.

Monogamy wasn't in Johnny O'Brien's vocabulary, so it shocked Jason even further when he told him he was going to pop the question while Elizabeth and Lulu were in the ladies room during dinner. He never imagined the day would come that Johnny would settle down, but it was strange because as he listened to him talk about it, Jason almost felt proud.

He'd spent nearly ten years listening to and dealing with Johnny's womanizing ways, so it was refreshing to see that his friend had grown in his time away. Granted, Jason had little room to talk about his friend's excessive use of alcohol and woman, but at least he called his escapades the next day. Johnny just added them up to being another notch in his bedpost, which was why Jason never understood Elizabeth's attraction to him.

She was anything but a one night stand kind of girl, mostly because she'd been there and done that, and both Jason and Johnny had witnessed the damaging results. Sometimes he wondered if she only acted out like that to keep up with the boys, because after the couple of times she actually took a man to bed while on a drinking binge, she beat herself senseless. For as long as he could remember, Elizabeth valued her intimate relationships, _when_ she had them.

However, he and Johnny surely made dating her a difficult process. They never liked a single man she dated, mostly because the new boyfriend was so jealous of her attachment to the two of them. In their eyes, she didn't need an insecure man in her life, and they never hesitated to come down on her ex-boyfriends with both feet if needed. They were especially hard on the ones that proved to only be good at lying, cheating, and breaking her heart. Plus, she was _their_ Elizabeth, and she deserved the best, not some selfish, self-absorbed asshole like Lucky Cassidine.

It wasn't like she made dating any easier for them either. Hell, if they wanted to, they could blame their lack of monogamy solely on her. Anytime they had a relationship with a woman, be it taking her out for a few drinks or actually a few months, Elizabeth never failed to have something negative to say. It was always something like the woman dressed too skimpy or tried too hard or all the bleach had gone to her brain.

Jason had to give her credit though, because she stuck it out through thick and thin, which all too often included crazy, nasty women. Each that she pegged straight from the beginning, but it was only fair that she was so on par with him and Johnny since they only returned the favor with her relationships.

There had been the on and off period with Lucky Cassidine for a few years until Elizabeth caught him sleeping with one of her co-workers from the art gallery she was interning at downtown. Needless to say, that ended her years of speculation, causing her to have even more doubts about any future men she got involved with. Not to mention that it also ended with Jason having to bail Johnny out of jail for getting into a fight with Lucky at Jake's, but that was only because he threw the punch before Jason did.

Then there was Zander Smith, and they never quite figured out exactly _what_ he did or how he exactly met someone like Elizabeth. He disliked him from the second they met, simply because he just wasn't good enough. The man floated from job to job, having no real responsibilities, and it was clear from day one he was out to use her. She assured them he wasn't like Lucky, and he just needed someone to believe him in, and she was sure she was that person. Believing in him ended up costing her a drained bank account and an eviction notice.

She did find decent men from time to time, but they always wanted to turn her into something she wasn't. She dated Jasper Jax, the owner of the MetroCourt Hotel for several months. They tolerated him, even though he was smug and wore overpriced suits, but he had more respect than any of her previous suitors. When it became clear that he was ready to settle down, despite the fact they'd barely started dating, Elizabeth fled in the other direction. The poor guy still mooned over her whenever they were in the same room, and Jason and Johnny couldn't help but find it amusing.

The more Jason thought about it, the more he realized that Johnny actually fit the profile of her past boyfriends. He was cocky and mouthy, never failing to place himself on a pedestal when it came to women and money. Not to mention that he was more focused on satisfying himself above anyone else, no matter what it cost. It didn't mean that he didn't care for those around him. He was the one person you could always count on, which probably helped Elizabeth and Jason overlook his antics. There was also his love for liquor and swear words that she apparently found charming.

Hell, it was no surprised that Elizabeth was hung up on him. He was basically like every other man she'd ever dated, and that didn't sit very well with Jason.

So much of their relationship was still confusing to him. It wasn't because he was left out of the loop, but he simply didn't want to be involved. They always flirted and teased one another in their own childlike way of avoiding any real commitment. He didn't believe that Johnny would intentionally hurt Elizabeth, but he'd done enough damage without ever realizing it.

He could see it in her eyes, every time he took a girl home from the bar, or made a pass at the waitress while the three of them were out to dinner. Sometimes he wondered if Johnny was the sole reason she dated complete assholes, as if waiting out for him to get his shit together.

She had so much to offer someone, and yet she wasted it on men who could care less. Then again, not many men genuinely cared about art or books without being far too pretentious. She was still woman enough to care about fashion or shoes, and had done her damnedest to teach Jason the importance of a good pair of heels. She was enough to not only keep a good man on his toes, but also enough to keep him coming back for more.

Yeah, Jasper Jax was nice enough, but he didn't understand her art or her desire to travel. He simply wanted a trophy wife, and while Elizabeth fit the profile looks wise, she would have been bored to the point of insanity with the actual job. She didn't dote or fret, and she sure as hell didn't want anyone doing such to her.

He supposed that was why their friendship worked so well. Jason wasn't used to needing people, especially after his accident, and she understood his need for space and to be on his own. She didn't nag him when he was angry or pester him about his feelings. She just let him be, and he always tried to do the same in return.

Not that she really wanted either of those things for herself. She hated being alone, let alone actually _doing_ anything alone, and he did his best to understand that. So much of her life had been spent with him and Johnny, so when he left town, she only had Jason. It was strange at first for him to have someone depending on him, but now he couldn't imagine it any other way.

Elizabeth was one of the very first people at his side when he woke up from his coma, and she was one of the very first people to accept Jason Morgan. Their friendship had been strained in the beginning, mostly because he never understood the past she or Johnny had with Jason Quartermaine. He couldn't believe they would just accept him as Jason Morgan and move on, but that was exactly how it happened.

Somehow, he'd ended up closer to Johnny, and that left Elizabeth to cling to O'Brien, which led them to where they were now. Except that she was further from O'Brien than she ever meant to be, and now she was clinging to Jason.

"Don't look at me like that, Morgan," she murmured, rolling her eyes as she tossed the cover off her legs, revealing that she was only dressed in his t-shirt. "You saw him last night."

Jason nodded, his eyes dipping down to her the creamy skin of her legs as she slid off the bed, smoothing the t-shirt over her behind as if being careful not to show off more than she already was.

Yeah, she was his best friend, but he was only a man, and what man couldn't admire an attractive set of legs when they were practically shoved in his face.

"Jason," she groaned, pacing back and forth in front of him.

"Yeah," he murmured, his eyes snapping back to her face as she came to a stop and slid her hands over hips. "What?...Oh, yeah, he's changed."

"Changed?" she cried, shaking her head furiously. "He's practically a different person…I know he and I didn't talk a lot in the last year. We were both so busy, him with business, and I was getting my artwork off the ground…But God, never once when I talked to him did I get the sense that Johnny was going to come back with _that_."

He wasn't prepared to have this conversation with Elizabeth, mostly because she wasn't prepared to have it herself. How was he supposed to explain that Johnny O'Brien, the playful drunken womanizer, was no longer just that? And worse, that it was definitely a good thing.**  
**

"You know what she said to me in the bathroom during dinner?" she scowled, placing her hands back on her hips and holding them tightly.

"What?" he asked flatly, taking another bite of toast as he leaned back on his elbows.

"That behind every good man is a fabulous woman, and that she just wanted to be his fabulous woman," she hissed, tapping her right foot on the plush carpet. "Did she ever think that maybe he has a fabulous woman? Just because I don't speak French or wear tacky designer clothing…And will you sit up? You're getting crumbs in my bed."

Rolling his eyes, he sat up and brushed away the crumbs from his wrinkled shirt. "Better?"

"What happened to him?" she asked, jumping right back into her tirade. "He doesn't drink or swear or tell dirty jokes. I loved his dirty jokes, but I bet the dirtiest thing Ms. Prim and Proper has ever done is spill a glass of grape juice on a white sweater."

He couldn't help but grin.

"Stop laughing at me," she cried, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "You think this is funny, but it's not, Jason. I waited an entire year for him."

Her smile quickly faded, and she folded her arms over her chest, causing the t-shirt to ride up just a little. He tried not to look, but he was just a man.

"Part of me didn't think he would come back, but I just wanted to believe," she admitted sadly, rocking back and forth on her feet. "I just…I want him to leave as badly as I wanted him to come back."

"I dunno how long he's staying," Jason replied, with a heavy sigh as he flicked more crumbs off his lap.

"Well, however long is too long with her in tow," she murmured, walking back over to the bed and sitting down. She slid up against the headboard, tugging the cover over her legs. "One more day, and then I'll get up and deal with this."

"You don't have one more day," he reminded her, gently patting her on the legs. "You promised Johnny you'd meet him and Lulu for lunch today."

"Did not," she pouted, slinking down into the bed and burying her face in her pillow. "Just tell him-"

"No, you need to get up and deal with this," Jason interrupted firmly. "He's going to marry her, and you're going to have to face him at some point."

"Can't I just slide into a pew at the wedding?" she muttered, peeking at him from the corner of her eye. "Or even better, show up drunk at the reception and spill a glass of overpriced, imported red wine on her Valentino or De La Renta or whatever the fuck designer she decides to wear."

"Get up, shower, and get dressed. You have to go see him," he replied, standing up beside the bed.

"Jason," she asked quietly, rolling onto her back and staring up at him with an all too familiar look in her eye.

"No," he said hastily, heading for the bedroom door.

He knew how hard this was for her, to have to see Johnny with someone else, but he didn't want to be pulled into the middle again. He'd spent the last year there, bouncing between their questions about one another. It'd taken months for him to figure out that something _had_ actually happened before Johnny left town, and worse, that his friend had made a promise to come back to her.

Whenever he tried to talk to Elizabeth about it, she just clammed up, saying that it was nothing. All too often he wondered if that was her way of ignoring it or holding on. Either way, she hadn't faced it or dealt with it, and now she was being forced to.

"Jason, please," she murmured, pulling herself into a sitting position. She frowned, tugging at her hair and gave him the God awful sad eyes she knew he hated. "Will you please come with me?"

"No," he replied, leaning an arm against the doorway and pressing his face against his elbow. He knew she knew there wasn't much fight left in him.

"Come on, Jason," she pleaded. "It will be far more bearable if you're there, and I will forever be indebted to you. I'll do invoices for the next month, or I'll clean the whole penthouse. Anything you want?"

Sighing, he lifted his head and looked in her direction. "Get up and wash the stink off of you," he replied. "Lunch better be somewhere good, and you're buying."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"I still can't believe he proposed to me in a restaurant full of a bunch of strangers," Lulu purred, staring longingly at her new fiancé as she held her left hand against her chest, forcing every light in the room to attach to the rock sitting on her ring finger.

"Sure was something," Elizabeth replied, forcing an all-too-painful smile at the blonde, before shifting her eyes back to her untouched grilled chicken sandwich.

Jason would have thought she'd been starving after confining herself to his guest bedroom for two days straight, but it was clear she could barely stomach the conversation, let alone the food. She'd been shuffling her silverware around on her napkin for the past twenty minutes, speaking only when spoken to, so he was surprised she had actually dignified Lulu with a response.

"So, we were thinking the end of the month," Johnny said proudly, sliding his arm over the back of Lulu's chair as they sat inside _Kelly's_ diner.

Elizabeth's mouth dropped open as the butter knife she'd been rolling between her fingers clanged loudly against the floor. "Uh, sorry," she gasped, pushing her chair back and bending over to pick up the silverware. She paused briefly, leaving her head tucked between her knees, and Jason knew she was trying to stop herself from hyperventilating.

"I know, I know," Johnny murmured, grinning at the back of Elizabeth's head as her fingers wrapped around the knife so tightly that her knuckles turned white. "You think it's soon, but I just can't wait to marry Lulu."

The brunette's head jerked up hurriedly, colliding hard with the edge of the table. "Son of a bitch," she moaned, slowly sitting back in her chair. She rubbed one hand over the back of her head and attempted to hide her tear-filled eyes with the other.

"Oh, goodness," Lulu cried, leaning over to pat her gently on the shoulder. She stiffened under the blonde's touch, her eyes swinging to Jason's as her lower lip quivered. "You hit your head pretty hard there, but you really should watch your words."

Jason choked on his cola and had to pound his fist against his chest to catch his breath. He felt Elizabeth's eyes narrow into a glare, and he was too terrified to see if she was looking at him or Lulu.

"Looks like we caught everyone off guard with that one," Johnny laughed, popping a fry into his mouth and grinning at his friends.

He really was one of the stupidest people that Jason had ever known.

"I'm-I'm fine," Elizabeth hissed, shrugging out of Lulu's touch as she continued to clutch the butter knife tightly in her hand. "Just trying to get my bearings."

She gripped the chair with her free hand and scooted closer beneath the table, and it was only when Jason cleared his throat and nodded at the knife, that she dropped it back on the napkin.

"As you were," she muttered, smiling politely at Lulu and Johnny. "The end of the month, I believe you said."

"Yeah," Johnny nodded, flashing a soft smile as he looked across the table at Elizabeth. "We thought about eloping-"

"Or rather, John did," Lulu cut in, with an uncomfortable laugh. "My parents would never approve of doing such a thing, and to think he mentioned Las Vegas? I refuse to go to a town where prostitution is legal outside the city limits, and you can get married by Elvis. Not to mention that gambling breeds addiction."

"So much for going to Atlantic City for the bachelorette party," Elizabeth snorted, rolling her eyes.

Lulu's eyes snapped to the brunette's face, and she looked offended for a few seconds, before her lips broke into a wide smile. "That was a joke…Right?"

Elizabeth arched an eyebrow at her as if to ask if she was seriously asking that, and Jason was pretty sure she was going to vocalize those feelings, so he stepped in.

"Uh, are you getting married here? Or are you going back to Europe?" he asked, tugging at the collar of his t-shirt when he felt his friend shooting daggers at him with her eyes.

Something told him that no matter what he said or did, everything that was going wrong with this lunch would somehow be his fault.

He should have known this the second they stepped into the diner, and Lulu flung herself into Elizabeth's arms like the two girls were best friends having a reunion after ten years apart. He also should have known this when Johnny told Elizabeth that she looked beautiful in the strapless, green sundress she was wearing, only to follow it up by saying that Lulu had the exact same one. And he wasn't even going to get into the fact that Lulu had asked Georgie Jones if there was anything on the menu that wasn't fried, deep fried, or marinated in grease.

Really, none of this should have been his fault, but it was.

After all, he was the one who whispered to Elizabeth to be patient and kind to Lulu, even if she was too touchy feely. And he was the one who rolled his eyes and agreed that the dress would knock Johnny off his feet, and he was the one who kicked her under the table when Elizabeth muttered that Lulu must be afraid of getting a stain on her perfectly starched, cranberry polo shirt.

Jason was really hoping that Elizabeth didn't honestly believe that a greasy burger and an order of cheese fries were enough to make up for the fact that she dragged him along to _this_.

Then again, it wasn't like he was going to nag her about it either.

"I called Father Coates this morning," Johnny answered, raking a hand through his perfectly coifed, chocolate locks, a gesture that caused Elizabeth to literally swoon to the point that she nearly fell out of her chair. Seconds later when she realized what he was saying, she clucked her tongue so softly that Jason was the only one who heard it.

How in the hell was he going to survive this lunch?

"Lulu and I are going to go look at the church later this afternoon," he continued, glancing briefly at the blonde, who was picking nervously at her plate of lettuce.

Yes, a plate of _just_ lettuce.

When Georgie joked that everything at Kelly's came with a side of grease, Lulu turned white as a ghost, asking for just a plate of lettuce with no grease.

Even Jason, who was doing his damnedest to give Johnny the benefit of the doubt, was having a hard time dealing with this adjustment.

"What do your parents think about this quick engagement?" Elizabeth asked, running her thumb along the edge of the butter knife as she continued to glare at her sandwich.

"Well, once mother realized I wasn't pregnant, and we weren't doing…Oh, what is it? A shotgun wedding?" she asked, holding a hand against her mouth as if she'd just said the most awful three words in the history of the English language. "Why would they call it such a thing? That's just terrible, but anyway…"

She paused, sighing heavily and brushing several pieces of her perfectly placed blonde hair out of her face. "I'm not with child. John isn't after my family's money. I'm not after his money. And well, it just seems to make sense. We've been dating for a while now, and there's really only one option left if we want to move forward."

Nodding, Elizabeth pressed her thumb against the ridged edge of the knife as she chewed her lower lip. "That's a nice way of looking at it," she forced out, swallowing hard.

"And my parents just love John. He's so respectful and enjoys spending time with them," she continued, looking dotingly at Johnny, while Elizabeth was obviously thinking of ways to rip the blonde's hair out.

Jason was starting to think it was a good thing he had come along with her, or else this could have gotten very, _very_ ugly.

"…He loves spending time in the kitchen with my mother, and he doesn't mind golfing with my father on Sundays," she purred, emitting more collective eye rolls from Jason and Elizabeth, that neither she nor Johnny seemed to notice.

O'Brien only liked kitchens because they had food, and the last time he picked up a golf club, Jason was pretty sure it was so he could slam the putter against the side mirrors of Lucky's car.

"Uh, excuse me," Elizabeth murmured, relief washing over her face when her cell phone rang.

She dug through her purse, sliding the phone out as Lulu looked on with annoyance, and Jason used the distraction as a chance to slide the butter knife away from her napkin.

Something told Jason that Lulu Spencer was gearing up to give the brunette another etiquette lesson, but thankfully Elizabeth cut her off before she had the chance.

"I have to take this. It's the gallery owner, so it's probably about my opening," she said, a sincere smile on her face as she pushed her chair back from table, and hurried outside the restaurant.

Jason's eyes followed her as she slipped out the door, and he couldn't help but smile when he watched her chatter away excitedly, one of her hands moving around in the air as she spoke. At least _something_ seemed to be making her happy during all this chaos.

He was having a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that Johnny O'Brien, former whino and womanizer, was now engaged to the modern day Emily Post.

"I really don't think she likes me very much," Lulu sighed quietly, balling her napkin up in her fist before setting it on top of her untouched pile of lettuce.

Either she hadn't gotten that the grease comment was a joke, or she was just as anxious as Elizabeth about all of this. After all, Lulu Spencer was the outsider being forced to step into Johnny O'Brien's former niche. If his friend loved Lulu and planned on marrying her, and he sure hoped Johnny did since he seemed to be so at ease at dealing with her, then Jason had to trust there was something likeable about her.

"She, uh, she never really had any girl friends," Johnny said softly, gently placing his hand on his fiance's shoulder and giving her a faint smile. "I told you before that Elizabeth just reacts differently to women."

Jason grunted, louder than he meant to, and their eyes swung to his. "Uh, sorry," he muttered, holding a hand up as he took a swig of his drink.

His friend narrowed his eyes, knowing that Jason was implying something else, and he was left with no choice but to respond.

"She's just overwhelmed," he lied, agreeing with Johnny, though he knew that was a huge understatement.

He understood that Johnny had every right to leave town and find someone else, but he just couldn't understand how his friend expected to pretend that whatever happened last year, never happened at all.

"John said this gallery opening is very important to her," Lulu said, twisting her engagement ring nervously around her finger. "But he also says she has nothing to worry about because she's amazing. I really would like to see her work, but…" She paused, shrugging as she looked at her fiancé. "I understand that something like that is personal."

"It's a lot of pressure," Jason admitted, wanting that to be the reason why Elizabeth was so upset. "Johnny's right though. She has no reason to worry. Everything she paints is…perfect."

"You've seen her paintings for the opening?" the blonde asked, sounding genuinely interested.

Jason shook his head, suddenly feeling like the awkward one at the table. "I, uh, I haven't seen them, but she's told me about them," he replied slowly, fiddling with his silverware. "I had, an uh, an accident a long time ago, and I can't really see-"

"Oh, of course," she interrupted, nodding understandingly. "John mentioned that. I didn't mean to bring up a sore subject or anything."

If only she could be this nice and less perfect when Elizabeth was around, but something told Jason she made Lulu very, _very_ nervous.

"It's fine," he replied, with a half-hearted shrug. "She just has to explain what it looks like. The colors…The brushstrokes."

"Well, it must be nice to have some personal attention from the artist," she murmured, taking a sip of her water. She clasped her hands on her lap, placing them on the edge of the table as everyone quiet again. "I hope that she can warm up to me with the wedding and all that. It only seems fitting to ask her to be a part of it, considering John's going to ask you."

And just like that, she became Lulu Spencer, the sole cause of torture in Elizabeth Webber's life.

"A part how, exactly?" Jason asked, resting his elbow on the table and scratching his forehead against his hand.

"Well, you know you're going to be my best man," Johnny chuckled, slapping him on the shoulder. "Who else would I ask to be by my side on the most important day of my life?"

He nodded, knowing he shouldn't expect anything less from his best friend, but it was Lulu that had him worried. There was no she would actually expect Elizabeth to-

"So, I thought maybe I could extend such to Elizabeth," Lulu said, as if it made all the sense in the world. "I mean, I don't have very many close girlfriends either. I have an older sister, who will definitely be in the wedding party, but my very best friend can't come on such short notice…Who better to trust with the important role of being the maid of honor than one of John's very best friends?"

Oh, fuck.

Elizabeth was going to kill Lulu, then Johnny, and maybe even Jason.

This was _bad_.

"Sorry about that," Elizabeth called out, coming back into the diner as the tiny bell rang out above her head. "There's space for two additional paintings. Anything I want to choose and I really have no idea…Hopefully there's something in my studio. I don't have enough time to start from scratch."

Smiling happily, she slid into her chair and scooted herself under the table, going as far to actually take a bite of her sandwich, that had to be cold by now. Still, it was nice to see her finally consume something that wasn't liquor.

"Didn't mean to interrupt," she murmured, holding a hand over her mouth as she chewed. "What were you guys talking about?"

Son of a bitch.

Jason scratched his forehead against his palm and stared down at his plate of cold fries. He didn't know Lulu Spencer very well, and while it seemed she was oblivious to most facts of their lives, he was really hoping she wouldn't bring up the wedding.

At least not yet.

"Wedding plans," the blonde replied with a wide grin, and she stared at Elizabeth as if expecting the brunette to respond in some way.

Instead, Elizabeth paused mid-chew, suddenly looking as if she had the desire to spit the food onto her plate. Reaching for her water, she took a long drink, swallowing hard as she washed it all down, before smiling at Lulu. "Of course."

"Actually, I was hoping to talk to you about some of the plans," she said seriously, to which Jason just shook his head curtly at his pile of fries.

This was not good at all.

"Oh, really?" Elizabeth asked, licking her lips nervously. "I'm not a very good planner, and I hate parties. They're so stuffy, and the only advice I can really give you is to have an open bar, because well, then those who aren't enjoying themselves can just drink their way through it."

"Elizabeth," Johnny hissed, tossing his napkin down on the table and glaring at her.

"Not everyone enjoys themselves at such functions, _John_," she replied, tossing her own napkin down as she stood up from the table so quickly that she nearly knocked her chair over. Jason was quick to react and caught it by the back, and then sat it up right. "I have to go. I need to work on my paintings."

She started for the door, pausing to dig through her purse and pull out a twenty. Turning around she dropped it on the table and glared at Jason. "Sorry for dragging you along," she spat, her eyes rimmed with tears. "Tell Georgie to keep the change."

She started for the door before Jason could stop her, her mass of brown curls bouncing against her shoulders as she huffed her way out of the diner.

"Sorry about that," Jason muttered, not sure why he was apologizing for her, because at this point, Johnny had to know what he was doing.

Yeah, O'Brien was an idiot, but he couldn't be that big of an idiot.

"It's okay," Lulu said, her lips pulled in a taut frown. "I'm sure it's just the gallery opening, and maybe…Well, I probably shouldn't ask her. It's awfully selfish of me to put more stress on her when she clearly has enough for right now."

"Yeah," he replied, ignoring Johnny's cold stare. "I'm going to go too. I need to get to the warehouse."

Johnny nodded a goodbye as Jason got up from the table, and there was no doubt that his friend wasn't pleased with Elizabeth's antics. Sure, he was in a tough spot, but how in the hell did he expect things to be? He was breaking Elizabeth's heart, and either he was so stupid that he didn't realize it, or he just didn't give a damn. Jason refused to give him a spot in the in between.

Pushing the door open to the diner, he started in the direction of the docks, clenching his hands into tight fists when he heard the sound of Elizabeth swearing under her breath. Rounding the corner, he wasn't at all surprised to find her with her back pressed against the brick wall and her head in her hands.

"Elizabeth," he sighed, stepping towards her just as her hands shot out to push him away.

"Don't," she hissed, her fury filled cerulean eyes meeting his. "This is not happening, Jason. She cannot…" Her voice trailed off and she shook her head, causing her wild curls to fall into her face.

"I know," he replied softly, stepping forward again, this time careful to make sure she didn't try to push him away.

"I hate her," she muttered, letting Jason pull her against his him. She buried her face in chest and fisted her hands in his t-shirt. "I can't let her do this…I can't let him marry her….I just won't."

Sighing, he rested his chin on the top of her head, knowing that this was far from over, and it sure as hell wasn't going to end pretty.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"What the hell are you doing?" Jason asked, when he stepped into his office at the warehouse to find Elizabeth seated behind his desk and typing away feverishly on his computer.

"What?" she responded all too sweetly, hoping he wouldn't notice the pile of papers she'd been printing off for the past two hours, or that she'd gotten into the supply closet for paper clips and file folders.

He kept track of _everything_ regarding his and Johnny's company, down to the last paperclip and tiniest coffee bean. She always told him it was ridiculous and a waste of time, but he told her someone had to keep an eye on things, and he liked doing it himself. Heaven forbid he hired himself an assistant or someone to spend time counting paperclips and coffee beans.

"This," he said, poking a finger against one of the many stacks of papers as he tossed several spiral-bound record books down on the desk.

"Don't," she hissed, reaching out to smack his hand when he started to pick one of the papers up. "I have a system going here, and if you mess it up, I'll-"

"You're in my office," he interrupted, folding his arms across his chest and looking down at her.

She rolled her eyes, annoyed that he actually thought the shame face he often gave his employees would work on her. "I know that," she murmured, frowning briefly at the screen, and wondering whether or not to actually believe what she was reading. "Your name's written on the door in that hideous font I told you I hated."

"Stop avoiding the subject," he pressed, shifting his eyes to the papers and shaking his head. "What the hell is this?"

"Research," she groaned, sighing heavily as she leaned back in his comfy, leather chair and stared up at him. "I know I'm using all your printer ink, but like I'm always telling you, you need to get thrifty with the office supplies. Write that shit off as a business expense."

"This is obviously personal," he muttered, ignoring her comments as he leaned over to read a magazine scan with the headline, _Face of Deception Launches New Spring Line_.

"Of course it is," she grumbled under her breath, mocking his know it all tone.

"Why aren't you using your own computer?" he asked, poking through the papers until she leaned over and smacked him on the hands.

"I got a virus again," she replied, letting out a heavy sigh. "I swear, I turn the damn laptop on, and it just explodes."

"Stop downloading garbage," he offered, an amused grin spreading across his lips.

"Well, it wouldn't be a problem if you still had that little computer geek hanging around here," she said, scooting closer to the desk as she started to stack her files together, mostly to keep him from looking at any of it. "Whatever happened to him anyway?"

"Moved to Canada or something, I think," he shrugged, frowning as he read another headline, _Laura Spencer Announces Partnership With Couture Magazine. _"This is the last time I'm asking. What are you doing? Now answer the question, or I'll call security."

"Are you threatening to throw me out?" she asked, placing her hands on her slender hips and glaring playfully at him across the desk.

It wasn't like it would be the first time. She was infamous for causing trouble in the warehouse, especially when she had dated several of the guys much to Johnny and Jason's disproval. They threatened the men, who always broke it off with her, and she'd come down to their office with fury in her eyes and pitch a fit. Hell, there was a time when she tried to piss him off just to see how much he could take before having her removed off the property.

"Cause if you are, make sure it's Ritchie," she said coyly, biting her lower lip as she grinned. "He likes to frisk me, and it's kind of fun."

"Elizabeth," he growled, sitting down on the edge of the desk and shaking his head.

"I already told you, it's research," she sighed, slamming the files onto each other and straightening them so that the edges were all lined up.

"On the Spencers?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Maybe," she replied, throwing her hands up as she sat back down in his oversized leather chair. It made her feel small and inadequate, but at the same time something about it was very safe. "Lulu is so perfect all the fucking time, so I figured I'd do a little googling-"

"Goog-what?" he cut in, looking at her like she was insane.

"Google," she replied, brushing away one of the curls that had managed to slip out of the messy bun she'd twisted her hair into that morning. "It's a search engine. You type in something like a name, and it pulls up websites. How are you so computer inept when you have your own business?"

"Did you let the nerd frisk you too?" he asked, yawning as he leaned back in the chair and propped his legs and dirty motorcycle boots up on the desk.

"I wonder what is says if I Google Jason Morgan," she replied, narrowing her eyes at him. She turned at the screen, pretending to type and looked back at him. "Oh, big surprise. Google says you're an asshole."

"Elizabeth," he pressed, rubbing two fingers against his temple.

"Look, I hate the bitch," she said flatly, having no qualms at all at admitting how she felt. "And I figure that no one is that perfect. There has to be some skeleton in her closet. Like fat camp or something."

"Fat camp?" he asked, letting out a chuckle.

"Not funny," she replied, grimacing. "You remember how I was a little heavy when I was ten, and how Johnny always teased me, and you had-" She stopped, raising her hand to her mouth and swallowing hard.

"It's okay," he said, sitting up straight in his chair, which suddenly looked entirely too small for his wide frame.

She smiled meekly, still not sure how to respond. She thought that after all these years, she would stop reminding Jason of the past he was there for, but doesn't remember, yet she always slipped up from time to time.

It was difficult when Johnny had first gone away, and she found herself alone with him all the time. They were close, but not too close, and she tried hard to find some kind of common ground, only to end up reminding him that there was a part of her life he wasn't there for. Really, it was all so complicated, and she hated that she made it worse.

She'd gotten better at it over the last year, simply because she was less nervous around him or worried about upsetting him. Johnny was always the good friend, the one who made Jason comfortable and relaxed, and she made him tense, or at least that was how it always felt.

Ever since he woke up from his accident, she always felt that he looked at her differently than he did anyone else. At first she worried he thought she was crazy. What kind of woman sat at a man's beside and fought to stay his friend when he tried so hard to push her away because he couldn't remember her?

"Are you going to tell me about this research?" he asked, pulling her from her thoughts.

"Oh, yeah," she replied, forcing an apologetic smile at him, to which he shrugged, letting her know it was already forgotten. "Well, I just wanted to know about her. I mean, Johnny's been in town for nearly a week now, and he's told us nothing. Or at least he hasn't told me anything about her."

"Me either."

"Don't you think that's strange?" she asked, twirling the free curl around her finger as she spun the chair from side to side.

"It's Johnny."

"Which is not an excuse," she said, nibbling thoughtfully at her lower lip.

"Well, did you find anything?" he asked, a hint of curiosity in his eyes.

"The question is what didn't I find," she replied excitedly. Leaning forward, she held up each file as she went through them. "She's part of fashion dynasty. Her mother owns _Face of Deception_, which is the leading makeup company in the world. It's more popular than brands like _Covergirl_ and _Maybelline_. Kate Howard is her Godmother, and she's the editor of _Couture_ magazine, which is the best fashion publication out there."

"I see," he murmured, looking at her wryly.

"See what?"

He shrugged, shifting in his chair. "Nothing. You're just talking about makeup and fashion. I don't think I've ever heard you get so excited."

"I'm a girl, Morgan," she snorted, rolling her eyes, "with a really bad soft spot for stilettos."

"How could I forget?" he replied sarcastically, and she knew he was referring to the boxes and boxes of shoes he discovered she owned, when he helped her move into her new apartment a few months ago.

"Asshole," she said, laughing as she shook her head. "Anyway, it's just so weird. She's connected to all of these brilliant and powerful people, and she ended up finding someone like Johnny O'Brien."

"He's brilliant and powerful," he pointed out.

"Yeah, but he's Johnny," she said, as if that made some kind of difference. "He drinks. He curses like a sailor. He's slept with every single woman in a sixty mile radius."

"None of which he does anymore," he reminded her, and she just looked at him. He almost sounded annoyed that she was prying into Lulu's life, but Jason had to see that something just didn't add up. "What are you hoping to find? Or rather, what are you going to do with this information?"

"Like I said, I just wanted to find something bad," she replied, frowning at the stack of facts in front of her. "There's nothing. Like you would think there'd be an eating disorder or her getting a five finger discount of some kind, but instead the Spencers are like the perfect family. She's the poster child of purity, and I just…"

"Wanted to find something that would run her off," he offered, shaking his head disapprovingly.

"Maybe," she admitted, continuing to turn the chair from side to side. "Besides, I need to know what I'm up against if I want to take Princess Purity down."

"Princess Purity?" he snickered.

"I never said it was the most genius name, but then again, what kind of name is Lulu?" she spat, frowning as her eyes drifted towards the computer screen.

"Well, whatever kind of Webber scheme you're dreaming up," Jason muttered, getting up from the chair and walking around to the other side of the desk. "I want no part."

"I don't dream up schemes," she replied, leaning back in the chair and looking up at him. "I concoct, I put into action, and I conquer."

"Only because you have my help," he teased, grabbing the back of the chair to stop her from turning it. He leaned down so that his face was next to hers. "And I am not helping you run her out of town."

"I never said I was going to run her out of town," she replied, her mouth falling open as if the idea appalled her. "I just want to make her sweat, and let her know that O'Brien was once mine, and I'm not going to give him up that easily."

His jaw tightened briefly, and she knew he was thinking that Johnny was already gone, but she refused to let herself think so negatively. After all, if Lulu Spencer wanted to be a part of Johnny's life, she had to take on Elizabeth and Jason too.

"Do not make a mess I have to clean up," he pleaded, motioning for her to get up from the chair.

"I won't," she said firmly, getting up and grabbing her files. "But if I need your help-"

"No," he cut in, sitting down in the chair and waving her away.

"Oh, please," she replied, leaning against the edge of the desk, a silent refusal to be waved away. "You're my best friend, and I know you would pull through for me in a heartbeat."

"Don't give me that shit," he said, reaching for the record books. "I have real work to do."

"You hate her as much as I do."

"Do not," he replied flatly, flipping open one of the books.

"Aren't you the least bit sad that once he's married, you'll lose your partner in crime?" she asked seriously. "Think about it. No more nights of picking up women at the bar or trading rude gestures and watching boxing and all of that manly stuff."

"Elizabeth," he sighed, tilting his head towards her as he grinned. "You do all those things with me, so who needs Johnny?"

"That's not the point," she replied, rolling her eyes as she clutched the files to her chest. "You need a manly friend."

"I do?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. "Well, maybe you need a lady friend. I'm sure Lulu could-"

"Asshole," she interrupted, as he turned towards the computer. She glanced at the screen, realizing that the webpage she'd been looking at when first walked in was still up.

"Oh, let me get rid of that," she cried, throwing the files down and leaning across his lap as she reached for the mouse.

"Hiding your research?" he asked, snaking his arm around her waist to grab it before she did, as he tried to peek over her shoulder and see what she was hiding.

"No, this was personal," she replied, clutching the mouse as he tried to pull her away.

One of his hands gripped her waist, pulling her away from the desk as she clicked desperately around the screen. She squealed when the webpage changed seconds before he tugged her into his lap, forcing her to let go.

"Ha!" she said, giving him a satisfied grin.

He grunted, nodding at the computer as he laughed against her shoulder.

"What?" she asked, leaning forward and staring at the screen. "Oh, hell."

"Yeah," he replied, nodding as he continued to laugh. "How To Have Sex In An Office Chair? Personal research, huh?"

"Oh, you know that is not what I was looking at," she hissed, as he scooted them closer to the desk, reading softly to himself.

"Check the chair's bolts and screws," he muttered. "Who has time for that?"

She stiffened, shifting his in lap so she could look him in the face. "Wait. You've done that? In this office?"

He just looked at her.

"In this chair?" she cried, jumping out of the chair and giving him a disgusted face. "Morgan, you should have more tact."

"It's my office," he replied, glancing at the screen again. "And it's fun…You know this is pretty accurate, minus the whole checking the chair for stability thing….So, were you going to let Ritchie frisk you in my chair?"

"I wasn't looking at that," she hissed, clenching her fists against the files as she walked around to the other side of the desk.

"I'm surprise you and Jax never-"

"I'm surprise you actually let things get a little messy in here," she interrupted, gathering her purse and jacket from where she'd tossed them down on an end table by the door. "Who knew that Jason Morgan had time to play during the business day?"

"Oh, I always have time to play," he called after her, as she hurried out the door and slammed it behind her, briefly thinking she really needed more women in her life.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Swearing, Jason slammed his record book closed and leaned back in his desk chair. Ever since Elizabeth had left his office, he'd been extremely worried. He was used to her overdramatic ways and constant scheming, but this one had him on edge. She was doing _research_ on Johnny's fiancé for Christ's sakes, and she obviously intended on doing something with whatever dirt she managed to find.

Not that Lulu Spencer had any skeletons in her closet.

She didn't strike Jason as the kind of woman to have parts of her past that she regretted or wanted to hide from the rest of the world. Hell, he was pretty sure if his friend sat Lulu down with a questionnaire, the blonde would willingly answer every single question, especially if it meant getting Elizabeth's approval.

Sighing, he dug into his jeans pocket for his cell phone, telling himself that he could just _ask_ what she was planning, and not necessarily have to get involved.

"Son of a bitch," he hissed, tossing his phone onto his desk when her voicemail picked up.

There was no doubt in his mind that she had completely ignored his call. She knew that he knew she was up to something and would try to stop her, but didn't realize he'd much rather leave her alone.

But leaving Elizabeth Webber alone meant trouble.

Like the time he'd gone into Manhattan during the middle of the week, and she said she would sit in his office and man the phones and faxes while he was gone. He called three times on his way into the city, and on the first call she sounded fine, by the second she sounded slightly annoyed, and then came the third where she was just far too happy. Despite his all important meeting, he turned his car around and headed back to Port Charles to find that she was having an early happy hour for the employees. When he reminded her that she was supposed to be working, she replied with, "The phone wasn't ringing, and the faxes weren't coming, and I wasn't going to sit around all day and count coffee beans."

That wasn't as bad as the time that she managed to get evicted from her apartment, which she said was a bad incident taken completely out of context, and she'd crashed at his penthouse for nearly a month. It wasn't that he minded her company, or the fact that she left wet towels and bras everywhere and always drank his last beer. No, it was the fact that while he'd gone out of town for barely twelve hours, just another trip into the city and back, he returned to not only find his penthouse in shambles, but to find Elizabeth making out with Ritchie on _his _pool table.

_His fucking pool table. _

_If anyone was going to make out on it, it was Jason, not his fucking security guard. _

When he pointed this out, she rolled her eyes and forced Ritchie to leave, teasing that Jason had ruined her chance at getting laid on the pool table. He told her to go to _Jake's_ where someone would surely take her up on the offer, and she laughed at first, but then admitted she didn't really want to sleep with anyone.

He knew that her outburst, like the many she had when O'Brien first left town, was just a reaction to her friend's absence. He tried to see it from her point of view; that for so long it had been the three of them and since his accident it had been her and Johnny, so he figured it was understandable that she felt abandoned.

Not that he knew anything about that.

After his accident, he'd woken up to a family that wanted nothing to do with him because he was no longer their golden child, and he made the decision then and there that he would never need anyone to the point that it caused him to self-destruct. Even now, he rarely leaned on anyone, and found that he appreciated it more when they came to him, even though it was usually only Johnny and Elizabeth who ever needed his help.

It was different with them. They _wanted_ to be in Jason Morgan's life, and in turn, it caused him to want them in his. For years, he wondered if they looked at him and saw Jason Quartermaine, or worse, if they waited for the person he was to reappear. If they did, they never really showed it, and it was in rare moments like this afternoon when Elizabeth brought up a story he had no recollection of, that he even remembered they knew him before.

Times like that were more awkward for Elizabeth than Jason himself. He mostly felt guilty that he couldn't remember what she spoke about with such amusement and happiness in her eyes. Shortly after his accident, he made it clear that he wanted to know nothing about Jason Quartermaine, and his friends accepted it, though he could tell they didn't understand why he wanted to know nothing about this other person.

They couldn't understand that acting as if Jason Quartermaine had never even existed made it a lot easier to know the face in his bathroom mirror.

He glanced at the door when there was a knock from the other side, taking a deep breath before he called for them to come in.

"Well, look at the man all hard at work," Johnny said, cracking a huge smile as he stepped into the office and closed the door behind him.

"Someone has to handle it all while you're backpacking through Europe," he replied, sliding the record books off to the side, knowing if his friend was sticking around, he wasn't going to get any work done.

"I would hardly call my stay backpacking," he said, adjusting his suit jacket as he sat down across from Jason. "Though it may have been just as rough."

"Oh, sure, seedy pubs and foreign women," he murmured, leaning back in his seat and grinning at his friend. "All the while I was stuck here with numbers and coffee beans."

"And Elizabeth," Johnny pointed out, arching an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah," Jason agreed, nodding his head. "Cleaning up your messes as usual."

O'Brien's eyes flashed briefly to his, and he couldn't decide if his was mad or embarrassed at being called out.

"You got off easy," he said, scratching at the barely visible stubble on his chin. "I left a far bigger mess overseas."

"I wouldn't be sure about that," he replied, getting up from the desk and grabbing the record books. He dug through his pocket as he walked over to the row of file cabinets that lined the back wall of the room.

"Don't be such a hard ass, Jason," his friend muttered, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not," he replied, unlocking the top drawer and tossing the books inside. "I'm just being honest."

Turning back around, he wasn't surprised that he was met with an icy glare. O'Brien shifted uncomfortably and tugged nervously at his tie. "A lot has changed since I left," he said seriously, pulling at the tie until it hung loosely at his neck.

"Depends on how you look at it," Jason shrugged, sitting back down across from him.

Johnny had a tendency to ignore the truth, even if it was staring him in the face. In his friend's eyes, he'd been gone for a year and it seemed all too possible that Elizabeth would have moved on and let go, especially since he already had.

And this was why his friend was such an idiot.

"Numbers are higher than ever," he murmured, switching over to his business tone that Jason rarely ever heard. "You've done really well for the business here in the states, and I even managed to bring in a handful of accounts overseas. The company's never done this well."

"Your father would be proud," he agreed, partly because Johnny needed the satisfaction of knowing he'd done well.

"And…you and Elizabeth are close _again_," O'Brien said hesitantly, his eyes finally meeting Jason's for the first time since his friend decided to call him out in a roundabout way.

"We are close," he said firmly, finding it impossible not to notice the flicker in Johnny's eyes as he ignored his friend's reference to the past.

Something felt very territorial about Jason's confirmation of this simple fact, which was the last thing he intended, but his friend seemed to get the point.

"I get it," O'Brien replied, tapping a finger against the wooden arm of his chair. His fingernail scraped at a crack where the wood was splitting. "I'm sorry."

"You need to talk to her," he shrugged, not wanting to make an awkward situation even worse.

"I know," he said earnestly, wincing as a piece of the wood stabbed beneath his nail. "I just-I'm trying make sure Lulu's comfortable with everything, and Elizabeth being so distant just…" His voice trailed off and he swallowed hard.

First and foremost, Johnny O'Brien was his friend, which meant he had all rights to call him out when he fucked up, and right now, he was royally fucking up. Jason almost felt guilty for confronting him on something that really had nothing to do with him, but he was the one who'd been here for the last year, so it only seemed fair that he had a voice.

"You showed up with a woman on your arm," Jason reminded him, raking a hand through his hair. Confrontations always made him uncomfortable. He figured it had something do with the fact that he woke up from his accident and was immediately on the defense with everyone around him. "And Lulu is clearly not just a random woman."

"That's why I'm marrying her," he replied seriously, sitting up in his chair. "She may seem uptight to you guys, but she's really not. She's funny and smart, and she _gets _me…You know, I went through a lot when I left, and she and I just-We clicked from the moment we met."

"I understand," he said, holding up his hand in an attempt to have his friend spare him the details.

The less he knew about Johnny and Lulu the better, because whatever he found out, he'd have to report to Elizabeth, and it would only make things worse. He'd played the middle man for years, and while it never bothered him before, this was one situation he didn't want to get in between.

"What happened with-" He started to stay, but was cut off by the opening of the door behind him.

Elizabeth burst into the office, a jacket over one arm and her purse on the other. "I left my phone here," she said, shoving her messy curls out of her face and glancing around the room.

So, she hadn't ignored his call.

For a few seconds she was oblivious to the man sitting across from Jason, and it wasn't until she stepped passed him to come around to the other side of the desk, the she realized who it was.

"Oh, Johnny," she said flatly, sucking in a breath as she shifted her jacket to hide her shaky hands.

"Hey yourself, Webber," he replied, smiling uncomfortably as his and Jason's unfinished conversation continued to hang in the air.

"You boys talking coffee?" she asked weakly.

"No," Jason murmured, tugging nervously at his ear, "we, uh, we were just talking about Google."

The brunette's eyes flashed to his, and he knew had Johnny not been in the room she would have beat him with the stapler. He was relieved to provide a distraction to O'Brien's presence or else things could have turned extremely awkward.

"Google?" Johnny asked, glancing between the two of them as his eyes sparkled with curiosity.

"Such an asshole," she replied, slapping Jason on the shoulder as she motioned for him to scoot back from the desk.

He rolled his eyes and shook his head at Johnny, as Elizabeth dropped to her knees and crawled beneath the desk. His friend cocked his head to the side and gave him an odd look, but Jason made nothing of it. She continued to grumble under her breath and he took the opportunity to kick her gently enough in the side that it got her attention.

"Jason Morgan!" she cried, jerking her head up quickly and slamming it against the top of the desk, which eliciting a string of swear words that would have surely caused Lulu to keel over.

Johnny raised his eyebrows as he stared across at his friend, but Jason just shrugged when Elizabeth reappeared, one hand clutching her phone while the other rubbed the back of her head.

"Son of a bitch," she moaned, leaning against the edge of the desk and glaring at Jason. "That's twice now in the last couple of days."

"I see you found your phone," he murmured, nodding towards her hand.

"Yeah," she replied, glancing down at it, "but it's dead, which is your fault because you kept calling me this morning to find out where I was. I got mad and threw my phone, which of course I didn't remember until I was all the way home."

"Uh, I didn't want you high-jacking my office again," he reminded her, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

It wasn't the first time that he caught her using his computer, or his paperclips or printer paper. She got a kick out of getting a five finger discount on office supplies and always told him to write them off when he got upset, but she didn't realize he was pissed because she wasn't using them for anything office related.

She once _borrowed_ two thousand paperclips to make some kind of chain that she attached to a canvas and splattered paint on. It wasn't her best work, but she tended to do things like that when she was upset, so he'd gotten used to it.

"Not that it's any help seeing as it's dead, but oh well," she sighed, dropping the phone into her purse as she gathered her things. "I'll just use a pay phone."

"Or you could charge it," Jason offered, shifting his eyes briefly to Johnny who was watching them intently with a serious expression on his face.

"I have to meet with the gallery owner," she said, shaking her head as if this was something he was supposed to know. "I also have to call the tailor about my dress for the opening, and I need to buy shoes, as well as other things…" She sighed, tossing her head not so slyly in Johnny's direction.

"Or not," he hissed, shaking his head at Johnny who was seemed very interested in whatever it was they were talking about.

"Whatever, Morgan," she murmured, touching O'Brien delicately on the shoulder as she passed him on her way to the door. "Enjoy your coffee beans, boys!"

Jason grunted when the door slammed behind her as he scooted back up to the desk. He grumbled under his breath, just like she had at him moments ago.

"What?" he asked, glancing up at Johnny as he rearranged a few items on his desk that he knew she had moved around that morning in hopes of pissing him off.

"Nothing," he replied, a confused grin spreading across his face. "Nothing at all."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Frowning, Elizabeth shimmied in front of the full length mirror in the bedroom of her apartment. She tugged at the hem of the strapless, navy blue, knee-length dress she was wearing, trying to decide if she actually liked the dress or if she should accuse her tailor of ruining it.

When she originally bought the dress, it'd been floor length as well as a size too big, but she fell in love with it the second she laid eyes on the tight fitting satin material. She couldn't help but admit that her curves looked damn good, not to mention that the bust line did wonders for her breasts, but something was just…_off_. She sure as hell hadn't paid an arm and a leg for something to be off on what was an already overpriced dress. Turning her back to the mirror, she gave herself a once over, grinning when she realized how good her ass looked too.

Maybe the dress wasn't that bad after all.

Her entire goal when shopping had been to find something that would make people stop in their tracks, or rather a particular guy, and well, if a flimsy piece of satin that clearly outlined every curve on her body couldn't do it, then what would?

She smoothed the wrinkles out across her stomach as she turned to stare at herself again. With the right shoes, it certainly could work for her opening, but it just didn't feel like the perfect dress for the evening. And the last thing she had time for was another shopping venture, especially when it would mean dragging Jason along and forcing him to watch her try on dresses all day. It was a week before they spoke to each other after their last shopping excursion, which was partly his fault because he hijacked her shopping day as his own, forcing her to help him pick out suits for business meetings.

"Shit," she muttered under her breath, when she heard someone knocking faintly on the door of her Brownstone apartment.

Stretching her arms behind her, she grasped for the zipper of the dress, swearing again when she couldn't seem to get a hold of it. The knock grew so hard that she could hear her doorframe rattling, which only annoyed her even further. She never understood why people just couldn't give someone a freaking second to actually get to the door.

"I'm coming!" she shouted, hurrying through her tiny apartment as she still tried to get the zipper. She continued to swear under her breath as she undid the chain and flipped the deadbolt. "Jesus Christ, just give me a sec-" She stopped mid-sentence when she opened the door to find Lulu Spencer standing on her doorstep.

Oh, why hadn't she used the peephole?

It was bad enough that she'd stormed into Jason's office hours ago, only to get caught off guard by Johnny being there and staring at her and Jason with some goofy ass grin on his face. She was so flustered she couldn't even talk to him when it was the prime opportunity to set him straight on all of this Lulu business. Instead she mumbled about coffee beans and hurried out the door, knowing all the while that Jason was making fun of her in his head.

"Elizabeth," Lulu said, clasping her hands in front of her as she rocked back and forth in her black ballet flats.

She wasn't wearing her usual plaid skirt and sweater over her shoulder, having traded in her usual attire for a simple black flowing skirt that stopped just below the knee and a white camisole. Elizabeth could have admired her outfit, maybe even tossed out a compliment, had the all too perfect blonde not continued to speak.

"I was hoping we could talk," she continued hesitantly, tugging at her long ponytail that was tied neatly at the back of her head.

Every time she saw her, Elizabeth had the urge to reach over and give her hair a good shaking or to dump red wine on her starched clothes. It was disgusting that someone could look that together all the time.

"Please," she pressed, forcing a smile at the brunette. "It's about John and the…"

"Wedding," she finished flatly, gripping the doorknob so tightly that she was cutting off the circulation to her hand.

"Somewhat," she replied, shrugging as she continued to rock back and forth on her feet nervously, which was just a really annoying tick for her to have. "And you too."

"Me?" she grunted, finding it impossible not to roll her eyes.

Nothing about Johnny and Lulu's arrival had been about her. Never mind the fact that she practically let him put it to her before she left town, or that the second he was away from Port Charles he became so distant that he practically pushed her away. Did she even need to mention the real kicker – that he'd arrived with a high society girlfriend who looked as if she'd stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine?

Thank God Lulu had wide eyes and an ugly smile, thus giving her something to really hate.

"Well, of course, you," she said sweetly, her forced smile turning so genuine that it nearly made Elizabeth hurl. "You're one of John's best friends, and I know that you two haven't talked much since he's come back to town…I'm not stupid. I know that my presence has made you feel awkward, and I never wanted that to happen."

"I'm sure you'd rather we eloped or something," she continued, giving Elizabeth a knowing look with her piercing blue eyes. "It was just really important to John that we come back to Port Charles and get married in the same church as his parents.

She arched an eyebrow, refusing to move from her post in the doorway, especially when there were so many things wrong with what Lulu was saying.

Elizabeth didn't want them to elope or _something_, unless that something was the two supposed lovebirds parting ways and Johnny coming back home where he belonged – alone.

She also didn't like that Lulu was implying that she didn't like her because she was his fiancé or that she was jealous. She'd already told her that she wasn't in love with Johnny, and he clearly wasn't in love with Elizabeth, so she could stomach a wedding just fine. It wasn't Lulu's place to say she couldn't.

To top it all off, Lulu went and used the dead parent card as if Elizabeth didn't know what was important to Johnny in regard to his parents. When his mother lost a three year fight with cancer, she was the one who'd driven him around all night sophomore year, before she even had her license, because Johnny had been too drunk and distraught to do it on his own. Not to mention that she was one who held his hand during his father's funeral and practically carried him out of the church after he'd been unable to deliver the eulogy. She knew about his parents and St. Timothy's church, _his parents' church_, because it was the only place that gave him any kind of solace after they were both gone.

He hadn't _actually_ told Elizabeth that he wanted to get married in that church or that his parents were married there, but still, Elizabeth had been around for everything else.

Oh, damn Lulu Spencer for playing all the right cards and completely trumping her.

"Come in," Elizabeth said, stepping aside and waving her into her messy living room.

Glancing around at the piles of clothes on the couch and the painting supplies strewn about the floor, she felt disgusted with herself for all of ten seconds and then found herself hoping the room made Lulu squirm.

"Okay," the blonde sighed, pushing her dirty clothes over a cushion so that she could sit down. "First things first, I get it, you know."

"Get it?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest as she paced back and forth in front of Lulu.

Her dress was too expensive to actually touch any of the dirt in her living room, so there was no way she was sitting down. It was dangerous territory with the leftover food on the coffee table and the possibilities of wet paint waiting to find something to cling to.

"For so long, you were the main girl-woman in John's life," she sighed, holding her arms tightly against her sides as if afraid of touching the furniture. "So it's only natural that you would feel threatened by me."

She held her eyes closed while she took a deep breath. This woman was not really going to give her the whole _you used to be first, but now I am, and I hope that we can be friends_ speech.

"In a way I'm taking your place," she continued, picking at a stray thread on the end of her camisole.

Son of a bitch, she totally was.

"When I first met John, he was a complete mess," she laughed, shifting her eyes to Elizabeth. "He was completely homesick and all he ever talked about was you and Jason, and I was sure that you were this long lost-"

"We talked about this already," she interrupted, pinching herself in the arm in hopes of feeling pain not related to Lulu Spencer.

"I know, but I worry that it may have come off the wrong way," she said seriously, as she stood up and placed a hand on her chest. "I made it sound like I was suddenly his entire world, and I'm not at all…Why else would we have come back here?"

She nibbled her lip not exactly sure how to respond. The woman was not only being kind to her, but she was also telling her that Johnny still held a special place for her – though Lulu definitely had the upper hand on the special place roster.

"What it comes down to is that I'm the girlfriend, well, the future wife, and you're the best friend," she continued, holding her hand out to her. "We have to find a way to get along or it's only going to hurt John, and I know that's the last thing that you want."

Clearing her throat, she rubbed her hand over the back of her neck and looked at her with a tight-lipped smile. "What are you proposing?"

"I don't see why we can't be friends," Lulu shrugged. "I understand that you don't know me, and I don't know you, but he's told me so many things about you…I know that you can be territorial with him and Jason…How you don't always like the girls they date, which drives them crazy…But they also find it part of the great Elizabeth Webber charm I've heard so much about in the last year."

It wasn't her fault that her best friends just had a habit of dating terrible, worthless women, and after years of dealing with their broken hearts, she tried to run the bad ones off before they got settled. If they genuinely liked someone, Elizabeth could grit her teeth and bear the brunt of the ridiculous relationship, even if she knew how it would end.

Well, she could until bleached blonde bitches stepped into her life acting like they knew her and her characteristics. It wasn't any of Lulu's business if she was territorial in a charming way, and Johnny sure as hell had no business saying such a thing.

When Elizabeth didn't respond immediately, the blonde took a step towards her, reaching out to touch her by the arm. "I really do love him, more than you could ever know."

"I can see that," she replied, swallowing hard as she tried to ignore the fact that this woman was touching her.

"Now, this I am surprised to see," came a voice from the doorway, causing Elizabeth to suddenly realize that she'd left the door open behind them, because she'd been so damn distracted by Lulu showing up.

The brunette tipped her head towards the door, sucking in a breath when she saw Johnny O'Brien in all his handsome, three-piece-suit glory, filling up her doorway.

"Elizabeth and I are just burying the hatchet," Lulu said, grinning as she patted her on the arm before dropping her hand to the side. "What are you doing here?"

"I, uh, I wanted to talk to Elizabeth," he murmured, raking a hand through his hair like he was always did when he was nervous.

Normally she would have smiled at the familiarity, but she was too annoyed that he'd spent the last year filling Lulu's head with all these stories about her. They had good, friendly stories he could have told his fiancé. Did he really have to tell her she was territorial, but charming?

Seriously, who the hell says that?

"Oh, okay," she nodded, reaching out to squeeze Elizabeth's arm. "So, we're…"

Placing a hand over Lulu's, she squeezed hard and looked her in the face. "Friends," she filled in, appreciating the way she flinched beneath her touch. "We'll surely have to talk wedding plans and-"

"Oh, that would be great!" Lulu shrieked, throwing her arms around her neck and pulling her into a hug. "I have no idea what I'm doing here or where to go, and my mother is so busy with work…I was honestly hoping that you could help me. You have no idea what goes into a wedding…Flowers, caterers, seating charts, fonts for invitations, and place cards…Really, who pays that much attention to a font?"

Elizabeth did, and now that Lulu was ridiculing such a thing, it gave her yet another reason to hate her.

"It's going to be so much fun," she said, widening her eyes to mimic the blonde's overexcited face. "I can't wait!" She clasped her hands, forcing what had to be the most ridiculous grin in the entire world.

"See, I told you Lizzie and I would be fine!" Lulu cried, rushing over to hug Johnny, leaving her to cringe at the use of her old nickname.

Johnny was the only person who ever got away with calling her Lizzie, and that was simply because she spent most of her childhood being too afraid to tell him to stop, because he would have just made fun of her for something else.

"I can call you that, right?" she asked, turning around and grinning as he placed a kiss against her temple. "I know that was John's nickname, but if we're going to be girlfriends-"

"Uh, yeah, sure," she cut in, trying to figure out how one person could go from being so relatively sane to…well, _that_.

"Great, Lizzie," she said, laughing as she brushed her lips over her fiancé's, which forced Elizabeth to die just a little bit more on the inside. "I'll leave you to it, honey. I'm going to go call my mother and tell her how great things are going."

Laughing, Johnny shook his head as he closed the door behind her. "She's pretty excited about all this wedding stuff."

"Aren't you?" she asked curiously, knowing if he wasn't that it could be one thing she could use against Lulu.

After all, that was why she was befriending the girl. As the old adage goes; keep your friends close and your enemies closer, and Elizabeth had a feeling she could greatly benefit by putting it to use.

"Of course," he shrugged, giving her a crooked smile. "I could care less about all the planning and the food. If it were up to me, we'd get married by Elvis in Vegas. Maybe get a little drunk and lose way too much money on the strip."

"Now that sounds like the Johnny O'Brien I know," she said, smiling contently as she realized this was the first time the two of them had been alone since he'd come back to town.

"Are you saying I've changed, Webber?" he asked, winking at her as threw himself down on her couch and propped his feet on the table, looking like he was born to be sitting in her living room.

She glanced in the direction of the door, and then looked back at him.

"Aw, come on," he said, rolling his eyes as he dropped his head to the back of the couch. "You don't have to be so hard on her, you know. I know how you get with girls and-"

"Oh, I know you do," she interrupted, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at him. "Lulu let me know that she knew all about me."

"It was the truth," he pointed out, sitting up and throwing his hands up at her. "God, you have no idea how hard it was to come back here, knowing how upset you would be."

She knew from his tone that he wasn't trying to be mean, but his words just rubbed her the wrong way. "Did you bother to think why I would be upset?" she hissed, shaking her head at him. "Or did you get amnesia while you were in Europe?"

Clenching her hands into fists, she turned away from him and looked around for the first thing she could hit him in the head with.

"Don't turn this around me," he replied, getting up from the couch and walking over to her. "You think I've changed? What about you?"

"Oh, God, I am not doing this with you," she said, rolling her eyes as she stalked across the room near a stack of easels she'd yet to take to her studio.

Maybe a canvas upside the head would help jog his memory.

"Doing what?" he grunted, following behind her, which only pissed her off more.

"Having some argument that borders on a teenage relationship," she replied, turning around and narrowing her eyes at him. "You changed. I changed. Well, that still doesn't _change_ the fact that you came back to town with someone, and whether you like it or not, I get to be pissed off for a little while."

"Well, what about what you've been up to while I was gone?" he asked, giving her a knowing look.

Oh, son of a bitch.

Jason had sold her out.

She hadn't _really_ been with anyone since Johnny left, but there was the incident with Ritchie on the pool table. Jax may have also swindled her out of her panties a couple of times when she was at a low point, but he was the one who picked her up at the MetroCourt Bar, not the other way around.

Besides, she wasn't getting married to any of them.

"Elizabeth," he said softly, reaching out to touch her, but she backed away and held up her hand. "Look, I'm not mad at you…I didn't go away thinking that you would move on from whatever the hell happened between us, but when I realized you were, it made things easier with Lulu. I met her and it was completely out of control, a total whirlwind, but I didn't make a move until I was sure that you were over _this_."

_Right. _

Well, he could have started by asking her.

"I don't think I thought about how upset you would be about Lulu, and things have been so busy since I got here," he continued, frowning at her in a way that made her heart hit the floor. "I wanted to make sure Lulu was comfortable, and I hoped that if I wanted you to be happy you would…It wasn't until I talked to Jason today that I realized how hurt you were."

"You talked to Jason?" she asked, rubbing two fingers against her temple when she felt an instant migraine coming on. He nodded, sliding his hands into his suit pants. "Just great."

"Don't worry about it. I'm okay with everything," he shrugged, stepping towards her, and this time she didn't back away. He stuck out his lower lip and cocked his head at her. "You know how I hate when you're mad at me."

"Johnny," she whined, hating that she just couldn't be angry when he not only infuriated her beyond reasoning, but was also marrying someone else.

"I suck, but you still love me, right?" he asked, holding his hand out to her. She nodded slowly as she placed her hand in his. "And you'll give Lulu a try?...For me?"

"Yeah," she said, letting him pull her into a hug. She wrapped her arms around him, probably holding on a second longer than she should have, but she just wanted to remember the way he smelled and how it felt to be in his arms. "I will give her a try."

"Thanks," he murmured, grinning as she pulled away. He let his hand slide down her arm to her hand, holding it tightly as Elizabeth tried to not fall apart beneath his touch. "You'll always mean the world to me, Webber."

Though she told it not to, her heart fluttered inside her chest as she watched him walk to her door.

Pulling it open, he turned around briefly, giving her an all too obvious once over. "By the way," he said, giving her a quick wink, "that is a very nice dress. I don't know if Elizabeth Webber's ever looked so good."

Before she could reply, he hurried out the door, forcing her to make the choice she'd been going back and forth on all day. The past twenty minutes, however, made the decision for her.

It was time to rage war on Lulu Spencer.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"You're looking awfully pleased with yourself this morning," Jason muttered, sliding onto a stool beside her at the counter inside _Kelly's_.

"What is that supposed to imply, Morgan?" she asked, tipping her head in his direction as she sipped her fresh cup of coffee.

"I still don't know what you're up to," he replied, shaking his head at her as he slipped his arm over the back of her stool.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she murmured, taking a bite of her French toast and grinning at him with a full mouth.

She knew he couldn't possibly be addressing all the time she'd spent with Lulu in the last week. The hours were long and hard, but something told her in the end that the pay off would be worth it.

"I haven't seen you in four days," he said, nodding a thank you to Georgie as she filled his cup. "I practically had to twist your arm to get you to meet me this morning."

"I'm planning a wedding," she reminded him, shoving another bite of French toast into her mouth, mostly to try and focus on something else than the need to upchuck, which usually followed the words, _'I'm planning a wedding.' _

She was.

Planning a wedding that is, only it wasn't her's. She was picking out flowers and place holders and fonts, all things that Lulu couldn't seem to care less about. She was too busy being caught up in the idea that she was going to marry the love-of-her-life – _correction, the love of Elizabeth Webber's life _– to really give a damn about the preparations.

Instead the blonde would get to enjoy the orchids, the cream-colored place holders and invitations with the ministry script font, all the while being completely oblivious because she was too caught up in the depth of Johnny O'Brien's gorgeous, brown eyes.

God, Elizabeth hated her more and more with every passing day.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked, leaning over to jab at a piece of her French toast with his fork.

"Nothing," she replied, smoothing her napkin over her lap. "I'm planning my best friend's wedding. It's what he wanted."

"I don't think that's what he meant when he asked you to be friends with her," he pointed out, taking another bite and attempting to go for a third, but she glared at him and he backed off.

"Well, she asked for help, so I'm giving it," she said, balling her napkin up and tossing it down on her plate. "What else am I supposed to do?"

He clenched his jaw in annoyance, and she knew it was because she'd stopped him from eating her food, and then decided she didn't want it either. It was just a habit that he should have known by now.

"I'm not trying to upset you," he muttered, shifting to pull a money clip from the pocket of his jeans. He tossed a twenty down on the counter and shifted his eyes to her's. "I just think you need to stop before you get ahead of yourself. The only person you're going to hurt is yourself."

She cleared her throat and looked down at her half-empty cup of coffee, not really sure how to reply. She couldn't exactly tell Jason that she was working on a plan that would ensure the happy couple never made it down the aisle. He would have looked down on her for such a thing and tried to put a stop to her lovesick madness, but little did he know that she was already hard at work.

Four days ago, Elizabeth had sat in this very diner with Lulu and a stack of bridal magazines that she'd dug out from under a pile of clothes in her living room. The blonde had giggled at the thought of Elizabeth having a subscription to nearly every bridal publication that existed, and she briefly contemplated beating her over the head with the stack of magazines.

"I just can't thank you enough for being such a good friend," Lulu cooed over and over constantly, as she flipped through the magazines.

"Friend," she croaked in response, the word fumbling around awkwardly on her tongue. She couldn't remember the last time she'd talked to a girl that wasn't some tramp one of the boys had lugged home, let alone actually befriend a person with the same anatomy as her.

"My best friend, Sam, would have loved to be here for this, but she's so busy," she clucked happily, as if enjoying the fact that her supposed best friend wouldn't be there for one of the most important days of her life. "Besides, I have you, so what else do I need?"

Face it, when the blonde wanted to lay it on, it was no other way but thick and heavy, so much that it practically drowned Elizabeth in the chair where she sat.

"You could hire a wedding planner," she offered, telling herself to keep as much distance from the actual planning as possible. It was bad enough to befriend Lulu, and she refused to be a total masochist.

"But you know so much," she replied, motioning around at the stack of magazines that Elizabeth now had the strong desire to burn. "And honestly, I don't want to think about all the little things. I just want to marry John. All of this means nothing next to him."

"You didn't dream about your wedding as a little girl?" she couldn't help but ask, recalling several instances where the boys teased her when she would talk about how her wedding would rival Cinderella's.

"I sort of grew up around fashion," Lulu said nonchalantly, frowning at an overdressed bride on one of the pages. "I never really cared about dressing up or dressing down. I mean, I dress well, or I like to think I do, but that's only at my mother's doing. She always said a lady should be presentable." She closed the magazine and pulled another from the stack. "Though I'd much rather walk around in jeans and a dirty t-shirt like you."

Elizabeth knew she hadn't meant the comment to be mean, but she refused to take in another way. "Well, we can't all afford to dress in clothing straight off the runways."

"Believe me," she muttered under her breath, "it's not all that it's cracked up to be."

Three days ago, after heavy contemplation, Elizabeth decided to throw all caution to the wind and get her hands dirty. She'd gone as far as to do research on the young woman's life, and she'd even typed in tips for breaking up a couple into Google, which she blamed that long lost computer geek for. He was always telling her that the web had everything, and surprisingly it did, making her more determined than ever to see if the break up tips actually worked.

God, she was growing more and more pathetic by the day, especially considering she'd rather have Jason think she was Googling desk chair sex, than _How To Get A Guy To Break Up With His Girlfriend And Go Out With You_. She didn't necessarily want Johnny to go out with her, since he seemed to believe that ship had long ago sailed. She just wanted him away from her.

"Good morning," Lulu called out, breezing into the diner, looking like she stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine in her pressed sundress and manicured hands.

"Morning," she replied, suddenly feeling underdressed in her yoga pants and tank top.

"So, what's our plan for today? We haven't decided on much and-"

"I want to know about you," Elizabeth interrupted, the words coming out slow and somewhat distorted. It was a difficult admission at best.

"Me?" she asked, placing her hand on her chest and giving her a bemused smile.

"Yes, I mean, you are marrying my best friend," she cooed happily, her stomach churning all the while. "And I just want to know the…good stuff."

"Good stuff," she echoed, clearly unsure about what the brunette actually meant. "Like sex?"

Elizabeth nearly spit out her coffee, which would have been amusing to see splattered across the front of the blonde's white dress. "Um, not exactly," she coughed, smacking her hand against her chest, not sure if she would ever recover from this moment.

"Does that make you uncomfortable?" she laughed, handing Elizabeth a napkin. "I know he's your best friend and all that, but my best friend growing up was a boy, and well….Oh, never mind."

"You had a best friend that was guy?" Elizabeth asked teasingly, knowing that some kind of past with a boy could be beneficial.

"In high school," she replied, casting her eyes down to her lap. "I really did like him, but of course, he never saw me that way."

"Oh, I doubt that," she said, almost following with a compliment, but she just couldn't muster one up on an empty stomach.

"He was a really nice boy," Lulu sighed, tucking her hair behind her ear as her face filled with nostalgia.

"How did you meet him?" Elizabeth asked, finding it hard not to be genuinely interested when it seemed to stir something inside the young woman.

"Primary school," she replied, a faint smile on her face. "It's funny, isn't it?" She shifted her eyes to Elizabeth's. "We spend so much of our life with one person, and then suddenly they're just…gone."

"What happened?" she asked, twirling one of her chocolate curls mindlessly around her finger.

"We just grew up and grew apart, like people do. Lucky for you, your boys seemed to stay close," Lulu answered, shrugging as she reached across the table for Elizabeth's in progress list. Her eyes scanned over the page. "I think orchids would be best, and I do like the ministry font." She grinned, dropping the pad of paper to the table. "You're really good at all of this."

Two days ago, Elizabeth realized that her attempt to dig into Lulu's past had failed miserably. While a past flame, some hot and tawdry affair would have been a great discovery, she found herself incapable of prying, thus leaving only one option.

"So, aside from this perfectly crafted story about meeting at the Eifel Tower, how did you really meet Johnny?" Elizabeth asked, as they sat on the terrace outside the diner, amidst yet another stack of magazines.

Lulu glanced up at her with surprise, and she couldn't decide if the blonde was shocked that Elizabeth wanted to know or if there was something more to the story. She stiffened in her chair and swallowed hard, cementing the fact that there was definitely something more.

"Well, he met with a friend of my father's regarding business," she murmured, choosing her words carefully as she continued to browse through the magazine. "My father went golfing one day and met John. He invited the two of them over for dinner the same day, he and I met and it was a disaster."

"How so?" she inquired, trying not to enjoy that the happy Paris façade was fading.

"He was drunk and crude, tried to cop a feel on me halfway through the cheese plate," she replied, shaking her head in disgust. "I'd never been so upset with someone before, and once we were out of everyone else's earshot, I told him exactly what I thought about him."

She grunted, completely amused. "Something tells me he didn't like that." He surely wouldn't appreciate a woman telling him like it is.

"Of course not," Lulu snorted. "He called me an uptight ice queen and said that I should be honored that Johnny O'Brien wanted to take me for a ride."

"What did you do?' Elizabeth asked, not surprised by Johnny's antics. He'd said a hell of a lot worse to women in the past.

"I smacked him," she replied seriously, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment at the confession, "which is something I never do. I'm not violent or mean like that, but it was just awful. Who says something like that to someone?"

She nodded, finding it impossible to fight her on that remark, even if it was a blatant jab at Johnny. Elizabeth never knew what to say when he would act like that. It was so different from the Johnny that she knew, and he would break a guy's hand if they ever said such a thing to her.

"Anyway, I was appalled, but I didn't tell anyone. I was too embarrassed," she continued, shaking her head sadly. "A couple of weeks later, I ran into him at the Eifel Tower. He was really drunk and in need of a friend, so I turned the other cheek. I have no idea why, but I just felt…Like he needed me."

"Needed you?"

"He was drunk and homesick and complaining about his friends and how things had changed," she replied, looking at Elizabeth as if she still didn't know what any of it meant. "I just listened. And then when he sobered up, I took him back to his hotel room and cleaned him up. Again, I have no idea why, but something about him…"

She laughed, combing a hand through her straight blonde hair. "You know when you asked about him and me….Well, it's like he's so scattered and confused, and I'm so together and focused…Even though he really tipped the scale at our initial meeting, it was like we found balance that day. Ever since then, I've tried to just keep him together, which means little booze and keeping that wandering eye under control."

She nibbled her lip and gave Elizabeth a serious look. "Please don't ever tell him I told you this. He would be so embarrassed…I should have never said anything. I just-"

"It's okay," Elizabeth replied, holding up her hand to shush her. "I won't." And something told her as much as she disliked Lulu, it was a secret she would keep.

Frowning, she leaned across the counter to grab a pot of coffee to refill her cup. The diner was fairly busy, and the last thing she wanted to do was nag Georgie for coffee refills. Jason had left nearly a half hour ago, leaving one last scolding glare behind him.

She knew he was only trying to look out for her, to keep her from hurting herself any more than she already was, but it only frustrated her more. Jason had always protected her. Before the accident and even after, when he was still unsure of her presence in his life, but sometimes she felt caged, like he didn't thinks he capable of doing things on her own. Granted, nine times out of ten, when he warned her, she usually fucked up miserably and he was there in a heartbeat to clean it up.

Sighing, she pushed her untouched coffee away and leaned against the back of her stool.

More than anything, she guessed she just wanted to prove him wrong. She wasn't an idiot, and she'd seen the way Jason looked at her during the last year. She knew he noticed how she broke a little more each time Johnny extended his overseas trip, and how pathetic he surely believed she was for holding onto one night of groping like teenagers in a dirty, dusty, old art studio. She had various suitors all over town but no one was Johnny O'Brien, and she just didn't want to settle for less.

"You're going to be late for work," Jason murmured, coming up behind her. He grabbed her stool and spun it around so that she was facing him. "You're gonna be okay, Webber."

She almost believed him when he said it. "I hope you didn't come all the way back here to build up my ego," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Why in the hell would I do that?" he asked, leaning around her to grab something from the counter. He waved his cell phone at her, giving her a long look.

"Jason, don't do this," she sighed, rubbing a hand over her face. "I don't want to hear about how I'm going to make a mess, and I need to let it go."

"I wasn't going to," he said, turning her stool to face the counter as he sat down beside her. "I made it to the warehouse before I realized I didn't have my phone."

"Yeah?"

"I ran into Johnny outside my office," he continued, shaking his head at her while a grin tugged at his lips. "I hear you and Lulu were doing laundry together last night."

"You're such an asshole," she groaned, smacking him on the arm. "She was whining about doing laundry at the hotel."

"I'm an asshole?" he asked, placing a hand on his chest. "You're the one that tossed three pairs of red socks in with her whites."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"You know, even when I was in the finest Amsterdam hellholes, I missed this place," Johnny said, grinning as he followed Jason into Jake's. "The smell, the sounds, and even Coleman."

He arched an eyebrow at his friend and shook his head as they headed for the bar. At best, the bar smelled like someone had taken a piss on the floor, and the owner had forgotten to clean it up, giving it time to stew for years on end. Over the years, he'd gotten used to it and didn't know what he would think if it suddenly disappeared. He could understand the sounds, because even Jason enjoyed the low hum of the jukebox as it played, and how the pool balls slammed against each other in a tune all their own.

Coleman was a very, _very_ different story.

One time too many Jason had argued with the man, especially over Elizabeth, who seemed to think she was capable of holding her own in a dump like this. The bartender never failed to make some disgusting comment about her breasts or the way she was dressed, and always tried to get her to go home with him at the end of the night. Granted, she'd picked up a couple men in her day from the bar, and Jason couldn't say anything about that since he did the same thing, but Coleman was in a league all his own. He was the exact kind of guy that you warned women to avoid, and unfortunately, he was a hell of a bartender, and good bartenders were hard to come by.

"Well, who the hell dragged your sorry ass back to Port Charles?" Coleman called out, scratching his beard as he approached the two men, stopping briefly to pull three beers from the freezer. He popped the top off each one, slid two across the bar to them, and kept the other one for himself. "How many countries are you wanted in?"

"Six," Johnny replied, winking as he took a swig from his beer.

"So, that leaves what? Amsterdam? Which I'm sure is your new home," he cracked, popping a bar nut into his mouth.

"Actually Paris," he answered, shrugging when the man gave him an odd look. "My fiancé's family lives there."

Coleman nearly choked on his beer and pounded a fist against his chest. "What sorry broad did you convince to marry you?" he asked, laughing loudly. "You know Russian Mail Brides don't count, right?"

"I said she was from Paris," Johnny replied, laughing into the mouth of his beer bottle. "She's pretty great. She knows I drink and curse, though I try to do less of it around her, and I don't have to pay her to like me. For some reason, she just does."

Jason nodded along with his friend's words as he slid his beer bottle back and forth between his hands. He wanted Elizabeth to hear this side of Johnny, to see that Lulu was actually good for him, and that their friend genuinely cared about this woman.

Though lately, he'd been trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, which lasted until earlier that morning when he'd caught her in his office, typing away and complaining that her laptop had a virus. He'd sent someone over to have a look at it after the last incident, so he was giving up on helping her any further. She obviously had no idea what she was doing, and Jason imagined her having much difficulty when she powered it on.

Thankfully, she hadn't been doing any research, and she was actually typing up some proposals for the art gallery she worked at part time. He couldn't be too annoyed that she had moved everything around on his desk, printed nearly 250 pages, and stolen two boxes of paperclips when she actually had a reason for it.

However, he could be very annoyed about the mess she left behind; stacks of file folders and handwritten notes that had taken him an hour to clean up because he had to sort through them. The last thing he wanted to do was throw something away that she needed, and have her rattling on about how she was coming back for the mess, and how he just didn't give her enough time.

She _never_ came back to clean up, and for once he was relieved. He didn't want to have to confront her about the folded up list he'd found at the bottom of her stack of garbage. It was tucked so far away in the pile of crap, that he figured she wouldn't miss it. Instead of throwing it away with everything else, he'd slipped into his pocket for safe keeping, knowing at some point he'd have to ask her.

And worse, they'd fight.

Jason hated fighting with Elizabeth, which was why they'd only had a handful of confrontations. She knew all the right buttons to push and the wrong words to say, and when he got really angry, she'd start to cry, and he would feel like a jerk.

The very first time he ever upset her was during the first couple of months after waking up from his coma. She was too good to him during all that time, and he just couldn't understand why she cared so much about someone who didn't remember her. She stopped by the hospital every day, sometimes with Johnny, but Jason soon learned that was only when she was really dreading the visit.

It was his fault for making it horrible. He was short and rude, constantly telling her to go away and to stop bringing him books and takeout food. Unfortunately, she was just as stubborn then as she was now, and despite every hurtful word he flung her way, she always came back. He knew now that Elizabeth and Johnny were the two people that had saved him, and he would always be grateful. Sometimes he wondered if that was why he put up with so much of their crap.

The last year had been full of their complicated relationship, even with Johnny abroad and halfway around the world. Elizabeth pined for him in a way Jason didn't understand, but he could see now that Johnny was the one constant in her life. Jason Quartermaine left her in the accident, and Jason Morgan spent his entire first year of existence being a complete asshole to her. He figured trying to be there as much as possible in Johnny's absence was the least he owed her.

"Still got the brooding thing going, I see," Coleman teased, grinning at Jason, who was anything but amused.

"That's him at his best," Johnny quipped, smacking him hard against the shoulder as the bartender headed down towards the other end of the bar. He grunted, glaring at his friend from the corner of his eye as he sipped his beer. "Still don't like to be touched either?"

"Nope," he murmured, polishing off his beer and sliding it across the counter.

O'Brien chuckled, shaking his head. "Nothing ever changes around here," he said, his eyes roaming around the room. His eyes shifted back to Jason's and he raised his eyebrows. "Well, almost everything."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, waving two fingers at Coleman and trying to get his attention.

"You and Elizabeth," he replied, nursing his beer. "I just never imagined that you two would ever be this close _again_."

He nodded, drumming his fingers against the bar as he caught his own reflection in the mirror lining the back of the bar. Even Jason could see how the past made him tense, how his shoulders stiffened and his eyes darkened at the mention of Jason Quartermaine.

"I guess it was bound to happen," Johnny continued, wiping at the condensation on the side of the glass bottle. "You two always connected, even after your accident when you tried to push her away."

"Yeah," he said, clearing his throat uncomfortably. "She genuinely wanted to be there. I was just too angry to see it."

Johnny snickered, his face filling with nostalgia. "She was a firecracker then," he agreed, "and it looks like she still is."

He knew he was referring to her attitude that day in his office. "She gets a bit neurotic when she doesn't get her way," he said, as if O'Brien needed reminding.

"Thanks," he muttered to Coleman, when he slid two more beers across the bar. He tugged at the collar of his dress shirt, before tilting his head in Jason's direction. "I wanted you to know that I talked to her."

"What?" he asked, mostly curious as to why Elizabeth hadn't told him.

"Yeah, I dropped by the same day you and I talked," he said, finishing off his beer and grabbing the fresh one. "Lulu was actually there, trying to make amends. I'm sure Elizabeth would have taken it with a grain of salt, but I asked her to give her a try."

Now Jason understood why she was helping plan the wedding, and even better, the list in his pocket made far more sense. "Was she upset?"

"Yeah, you know how bad I am with talking," he replied, taking a long swig of his beer. "I'm probably worse with words than you…Anyway, I just-I let her know that I understand why she's mad and that we've both moved on, so there's no point in having hard feelings."

Jason rubbed his chin against the side of his hand as he reached for his beer, not exactly sure what Johnny was talking about. Yeah, he'd moved on without a problem, but Elizabeth was stuck in the same place she was a year ago. She wanted Johnny to be her constant again, the sole person her life revolved around, and Jason didn't understand why he would think she had moved on.

He turned on his stool so that he was facing Jason. "I'm not upset about what's happened," he shrugged, flashing a grin. "If anything, after what's happened in the past and how it's created the present, I'm glad things have come full circle. It's kind of like this is how it was always supposed to be."

He swirled his beer around in the bottle, still trying to figure out what his friend was saying. Jason's past with Johnny and Elizabeth existed solely on the eight years since he woke up from his coma, and he knew O'Brien was referring to the years before the accident, the years that none of them ever talked about.

Jason knew the basics; the story about the paper Mache globe and how Johnny teased Elizabeth incessantly through their childhood, and how he was the one that always kept him in line. Occasionally O'Brien would remind him how she'd once been willing to follow him anywhere, so he wasn't surprised that she held on so tightly after his accident.

While neither of them ever addressed the exact stance of Jason Quartermaine and Elizabeth Webber's relationship, he'd hardly ever thought that it was romantic. If anything, he assumed they were the best of friends, and Johnny was their sidekick of sorts, but something told him his friend was getting at something more.

And that O'Brien seemed to think that something more had come full circle.

"Wait," Jason said, furrowing his brow as he turned to Johnny. "Do you think Elizabeth and I are-"

"Hey, losers!" her voice rang out behind them, cutting him off.

She slid onto a stool beside Jason, flashing him a smile as she leaned over and grabbed a handful of bar nuts. In the past week, she'd grown more comfortable around Johnny, and at first Jason wasn't sure why, but if Johnny had talked to her, it had to of helped.

"I stopped by the penthouse, then the warehouse, and of course, this had to be the only other place you would be."

"Yeah," he replied, taking a long sip of his beer, understanding exactly why Johnny would think there was something more going on between her and him.

"We were just talking about you," Johnny said, waving at Coleman to bring another round of beers.

She arched an eyebrow at Jason in the mirror, letting him know that she didn't appreciate such a topic of conversation.

Like he did.

The last thing he needed was Johnny thinking he was dating Elizabeth, let alone sleeping with her.

Like he wanted to do that.

The last thing he needed was to get involved with someone like Elizabeth, who was too hung up on another to guy to notice anyone else.

Not that he wanted that either.

Leave it to Johnny O'Brien to fuck things up real good by coming back to town like he knew what the hell was really going on.

Johnny O'Brien was ruining _everything_.

"Hey, sweetheart," Coleman cooed, setting three beers on the bar as he gave her a quick once over, his eyes lingering on her chest far longer than they should have. "Haven't seen you here in a while."

"Been busy," she muttered, wrapping a hand around the neck of the beer bottle. "You know, planning O'Brien's wedding and all."

"You're planning the poor broad's wedding?" he said, propping himself against the bar and looking her up and down again. "That means you know her. Does she speak English?"

Elizabeth laughed, rolling her eyes. "Unfortunately," she muttered softly, so that only Jason and the bartender could hear her. "She's nice."

"Nice?" Coleman laughed, shifting his eyes to Johnny. "I don't think you've got Lil' Lizzie's approval, which means you're in for hell."

"Oh, they're warming up to one another," O'Brien replied, leaning forward and smiling at Elizabeth.

"Before the first cat fight?" he asked, tipping his head back at her. "If you choose to fight her, let me know. I wouldn't mind seeing you scrap a foreigner." He looked her over again. "I wouldn't mind seeing you at all," he murmured, with a wink.

"The come ons never change, do they?" she teased back, flashing him a flirty smile.

"You like it a little dirty," he replied, winking again. "Even if you don't know it." He started to say something else, but someone called for him at the other end of the bar.

Jason was relieved when he walked away because he kind of wanted to punch him.

Partly because Lulu wasn't a foreigner, and they weren't going to scrap, and partly because Elizabeth was wearing a fucking t-shirt and jeans, not some low cut top and short skirts like most the girls who came to the bar. She wasn't asking to be drooled over or picked up, so the man just needed to leave her alone and let her drink her goddamn beer.

"Oh, I need to take this," his friend said, sliding off his bar stool as he looked down at his cell phone. "It's Lulu."

He nodded, watching his friend disappearing into the hallway at the back of the bar, before turning to Elizabeth. "I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"Who shit in your Cheerios?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at his harsh tone. "I didn't think you'd be with Johnny. I figured you'd be with some guys from the warehouse."

"I'm not," he answered, finishing off his beer and reaching for Johnny's, mostly pissed off that he was so angry and didn't know why.

"I can go if you want to have your boys' night or whatever. I'm sure it's hard for him to get away from Princess Purity," she said, digging through her purse for cash to pay for her beer.

"I've got it," he said, tossing money down on the bar.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" she asked, smacking him on his arm with her tiny clutch. "Are you still pissed off about this morning? I thought you had meetings all morning and wouldn't be using your office. I came back to clean up the rest of my mess. I just had to get those proposals down to work." She clenched her jaw, staring him in the face. "I guess you just threw everything away, right?"

"Except this," he replied, tugging the paper from his pocket and slamming it down on the bar. "What the fuck are you thinking?"

She snatched the folded piece of notebook paper from the bar and clutched it tightly in her fist. "Snoop much?"

"It was in _my_ office, Elizabeth," he growled, shaking his head at her. Reaching over, he attempted to take the paper, but it was only after grabbing her fist and prying it open, that he was able to get it back.

Glancing towards the back of the bar for Johnny, he unfolded the paper and slammed it down on the bar in front of her. "Why do you have a list of every place Johnny stayed in Europe?" he asked demandingly. "Along with every business deal, every connection he made, and how in the hell did you get this information?" Her face fell and she looked away, infuriating him even more. "Did you get this from my office? Were you even using my computer for work, Elizabeth?"

"I figured some of it out on my own," she admitted slowly, chewing her lip. "But I just-I didn't have everything Spinelli said he needed, and-"

"You got a hold of Spinelli for this?" he asked, throwing his hands up at her. He hadn't even heard from the damn tech-geek since he'd hightailed it to Canada about six months ago, saying he'd found a better job.

It was official; she had completely lost her mind.

"Ritchie gave me his number," she replied, shaking her head at herself, her face turning flush with embarrassment. "I knew you wouldn't give me what he needed, so I-"

"You lied to me," he said seriously, not sure what else to say. "I asked you why you were in my office, and you said it was for work. You fucking lied to me."

"Jason, I didn't lie to you," she murmured softly, reaching out for the piece of paper, but he jerked it away. "Spinelli called me when I was in your office and told me what information he needed, and how to look it up in the system, and I just…Jason, I'm sorry."

"I can't believe you," he replied, gritting his teeth as he glared at her. "I thought I could trust you, Elizabeth. You can't just use my computer to gather information like that. I get that you dug up the dirt on Lulu to satisfy some need, but this is me and Johnny. We're your friends. His life in Europe and our business is none of you fucking business."

"You should have never looked stuff up about Lulu in the first place, and you sure as hell shouldn't have lied to me," he repeated, wondering why she just hadn't come to him if she was so concerned about Johnny.

"I was worried," she interrupted, ignoring his comment about Lulu as she wrung her hands in her lap. She chewed her lip and lifted her teary eyes to his, but he refused to let it faze him.

"Then you should have come to me."

"I didn't need you to get involved, Jason, regardless of the fact that you think you deserve to be. Just because something involves me and Johnny doesn't mean it involves you too," she replied angrily.

"And that's exactly why you always get me involved," he snarled, looking towards the back of the bar in hopes of seeing Johnny, so they could drop this before it got worse.

"Look, Lulu just said some things; that Johnny was a real mess when she met him. And yeah, he's always been a mess, but the way she talked about him…I just-I almost think something bad happened."

"You're being dramatic," he said, shaking his head at her. "You're just upset that he's marrying Lulu, and you want something to fixate on."

"Well, you just think you know everything, don't you?" she snapped, getting up from the stool. "I'm telling you…I just didn't like the way she said it. It's not like Johnny to be so distant and strange, and no sooner than he left town-"

"You just think that because you didn't get what you want," he interrupted, balling the paper up in his fist before shoving it back into his pocket.

The last thing he wanted was for Johnny to get wind of this, because if something had happened in Europe, he didn't want them to know. Whatever it was, he'd survived and that was all that mattered. If he wanted them to know, he would tell them, and until then it was none of their damn business.

"You're being a real son bastard," she hissed, folding her arms over her chest. "This has _nothing_ to do with the fact that he's marrying that fucking shrew."

"Oh, please, it has everything to do with that," he replied loudly, causing heads to turn in the bar.

Swearing under his breath, he stood up and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her towards the back door and into the parking lot. "You have to stop this," he said, slamming the door closed behind them. "You can dig your heels into the ground as much as you want, but he's going to marry her. You can throw in as many red socks and blatant jabs and puns, but he's going to marry her. You can probably tell him you love him, but he's going to marry her. You get it?"

She nodded, her lower lip quivering as she stared past Jason and into the dark parking lot. "I get it," she whispered, "but you don't." She shook her head as her eyes welled up with tears. "I'm planning this stupid wedding for the man that _I _want to be with, and the bride is completely perfect in every way. She's blonde and perky and gorgeous and rich, and I'm just some fucked up girl you think is harboring a ridiculous crush. Right? Just say it."

Regardless of the fact that he was so angry and wanted to keep pushing her buttons, he just couldn't. This was no longer about her going behind Johnny's back or sticking her nose where it didn't belong. It was about her heart, and he was treading on delicate ground that he'd already managed to stomp on a couple of times.

"I never said you were ridiculous," he muttered, hating that he hurt her, but knowing all the while she _needed_ to hear it. "You're past the point of being objective because you're hurting. You can't see that the Johnny O'Brien in the bar is not the Johnny O'Brien you fell in love with."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Elizabeth was pissed off. Not in that _she had a bad morning_ or _she spilled coffee on her favorite blouse_ kind of pissed off either.

No, this was _every possible thing had gone wrong in the span of twenty-four hours, and she had no idea how to fix any of it_ kind of pissed off. Just when she didn't think things could get any worse, she received a call from St. Timothy's church saying there had been a small fire inside the church, and that the wedding would have to be pushed back at least a few weeks.

And that wasn't even the worst part.

The caller had assumed she was the bride and apologized a thousand times about ruining the most special day of her life, which confused Elizabeth tremendously at first, and then it broke her heart about a million times over.

And now she was sitting across from Lulu, who could care less that her wedding was pushed back a few weeks.

"It's just a minor bump in the road," the blonde muttered, glancing up at the sky above the terrace of Kelly's. "Do you think it's going to rain?"

"Hopefully not," Elizabeth replied, shivering at the thought. She hated thunderstorms, and not in that normal, the sounds made her jump kind of way. They kept her up all night until the last thunder clacked and lightning struck.

"Are you okay?" the blonde asked, her voice so heavy with concern that it caught Elizabeth off guard.

"Fine," she said, glancing at all the lists in front of her, and trying to calculate which direction would have the easiest start. She needed to reprint invitations and reschedule fittings, well, just her's seeing as she was suddenly roped into being the maid of honor, and Lulu had plans on going back to Europe to shop for a wedding dress with her mother.

Elizabeth hadn't talked about her dress at all with Lulu, mostly in fear that it would be a terrible color that washed out her skin tone or something with ruffles. One look at the blonde and she knew she was a woman with an appreciation for ruffles.

No one should appreciate ruffles. _Ever_. Let alone on a gown of someone in a bridal party.

"Well, if you need to talk-"

"I don't," Elizabeth cut in firmly, shaking her head.

She was starting to rethink her decision to help plan the wedding simply because it caused Lulu Spencer to suddenly think Elizabeth was her blood sister or soul sister or whatever the hell stupid girls called it these days, and she just didn't have any of those. _Ever._

Granted, there was a positive to all of this, in that Lulu considered Elizabeth her friend. She was always rattling on about herself, her family, and Johnny, as if Elizabeth actually cared. And maybe she did, just a tiny bit, but that was mostly because she was looking for something to use against Lulu. There had to be a flaw there somewhere, something that would completely infuriate Johnny, and she was determined to find it.

"Sorry for snapping," she murmured, glancing down at the blonde as she got up from the table and tossed her bag over her shoulder. "I just have a lot going on with the wedding, my art show…" Her voice trailed off and she silently added on the fact that she and Jason had heatedly had it out at the bar, and they hadn't spoken in an entire day.

She was used to pissing Jason off, having been capable of doing it practically her entire life with the snap of her fingers. Whether he knew it or not, his short temper, that he often tried to hide, was something that he had in common with Jason Quartermaine. He would blow up at her, and though she knew she deserved it, nothing ever upset her as much as when Jason was mad. Usually his anger only lasted for a few hours, and they were tripping over one another's apologies and going out for beers like nothing had ever happened.

This time was different though; she had lied – though if she wanted to be technical, he hadn't exactly given her the chance to be honest.

Lulu's story about how she and Johnny had met swirled around in Elizabeth's heads for days, and she found herself wondering what would have made him such a mess. Johnny had always been somewhat of a drunk, even when they were teenagers, but aside from his sexual endeavors, he was generally a responsible drinker. He always took cabs or called her and Jason for a ride, and she had seen him in countless situations where he realized he reached his limits and should switch to water.

She just knew that something happened to him.

Normally, she would have involved Jason in something like this, especially with how close they were now, but she knew he would react just as he did at Jake's. He would have told her to mind her own business and stop doting on Johnny because he was a grown man who had the right to live his own life, even with secrets.

The thing was, Elizabeth wasn't used to secrets, at least where Jason and Johnny were concerned. It had always been them against the world, and Johnny leaving caused a shift, even if none of them wanted to admit it. Maybe she was silly for wanting to hold onto the people that they were or wanting them to always be so close, but they'd been through more than anyone could understand, and they'd done it all together.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked, sitting back down in her seat and staring Lulu in the face.

"Of course," she replied, smiling happily.

"Have you," Elizabeth started, clutching her purse tightly in her lap, "or would you ever lie to Johnny?"

"No," Lulu answered, without stopping to think even for a second.

"Never?" she asked in disbelief.

"No," she said again, firmer this time. "John and I have had our differences. It's obviously no secret that we are two very different people from two opposite worlds, but somehow we met in the middle."

"How?" she asked, leaning back in her chair and dropping her purse to the floor beside her. "How do you meet in the middle?"

"I have no idea," Lulu replied, laughing softly. "I've never really thought about it. Maybe it's about making sacrifices or putting someone else before you. I didn't ask John to give up his drinking or his cursing or his less than cavalier ways with women."

"You didn't try to change him?" Elizabeth asked, prying more than she meant to, but none of this seemed to make sense to her. How did someone like Lulu Spencer, the quintessential good girl, bed and wed – assuming she did so in that order – a man like Johnny O'Brien.

"I think I knew from the very first time that we met, there was no changing him," she said, smiling genuinely as she seemed to replay their very first dinner in her mind. "Why else do you think I put him in his place and sent him packing? The second time we ran into each other, he just needed someone. I knew he was so far from home, and he was highly unlikely to call you or Jason and beg one of you to visit, so I told him I would be his French friend under the condition that he acted like a normal human being when he was with me."

"Do I want to know how he responded to that?" she snickered, knowing Johnny was less than privy to any woman telling him how to live his life.

"Oh, not very well at first," she replied, grimacing at the memory, "but he quickly changed his mind…Probably because he didn't have anyone else to turn to."

"So, he just gave up all his vices for you without any problem," Elizabeth said, trying to wrap her head around the thought.

After all, it wasn't like she and Jason hadn't been on him for years to turn his life around before he ended up dying in a pool of whiskey, to which he often responded by saying he'd die happy. As much as it killed her, she was seeing the difference between that Johnny O'Brien and the one that returned from Europe; this one would die loved.

"It was difficult, as giving up anything is," Lulu murmured, tugging nervously at the end of her hair. "I have vices of my own."

Elizabeth arched an eyebrow wondering which one she was talking about, because from where she was sitting, she could list tons for the blonde.

"I'm not perfect by any means," she said, placing a hand on her chest in assumption that was Elizabeth's thought. "I just come from a family where perfection is expected."

"Name three vices," she challenged, mostly curious as to whether it was pleated skirts and lacrosse sweaters.

"Shopping, correcting other's conduct – that one I'm still working on. I blame my mother who constantly rode me about what a real woman was made of. I think John has helped me loosen my ties a bit to the proper conduct of a lady," Lulu replied, wrinkling up her nose. "Oh, and lastly, cigarettes...Yes, I smoked, but when I told John that drinking would do wonders for his liver, he responded the same would come from my filthy habit."

"That sounds like Johnny," Elizabeth mused, fondly recalling his ability to always match one of her flaws to his whenever she dared to point them out. "So, I guess my next question is what about him don't you like?" She was asking partly out of curiosity since she seemed to have him placed on such a pedestal and partly because, well, honestly it was just a way to find out some kind of dirt.

Elizabeth Webber was definitely going to hell for this.

"He never wears ties," the blonde replied, grinning in a way that made Elizabeth think she didn't really consider that a flaw. "He has a terrible fake laugh that he loves to use on my father, who now thinks he's the funniest man in the world because of it. He leaves his wet towels everywhere, always drinks milk from the carton, and has a terrible habit of leaving notes in the oddest of places. Oh, and the worst, he eats ketchup with everything which completely disgusts me, not to mention it's embarrassing in Europe because you have to ask for packets, and he never seems to be able to get enough."

She nodded, feeling more mixed than anything. They were all things that drove Elizabeth crazy, all habits and routines she knew far too well, yet Lulu spoke with such affection, whereas she only saw red.

Then again, Elizabeth was the one who would spend hours shopping with him for suits and ties, only to never see the look complete once they left the store. Not only was it a waste of money, but he wasted her time by always forcing her to pick out a tie that would bring the ladies – his words, not hers. She was the one who knew his various fake laughs; one for the businessmen he associated with, one for the elderly men he appreciated, but not enough to really laugh at their jokes, and one for the men he completely believed to be assholes and not worthy of his time.

She never said much about his wet towels, mostly because it was a habit of her own, and she always said something to him about the carton, simply because it was disgusting. His notes were the worst, his way of avoiding her when she would ask him to run an errand or to pick something up that she needed. Days later she'd ask him about it, and he would say he didn't have time and he left a note, which she wouldn't find until weeks later, stuck in the side of her couch or on a box of cereal.

And the ketchup, well, it was just a trademark. If there was food and Johnny, there were always several sides of the red sauce that she'd grown to appreciate, seeing as it would always be present in her life.

"That's it?" Elizabeth asked after a few seconds, knowing there had to be something the two lovebirds would never see eye to eye on – politics, religion, or business – there just _had_ to be something. "There's nothing that drives you absolutely insane?"

She shrugged half-heartedly, showing her indifference. "I think we all have quirks, so I try not to be too judgmental." She paused, glancing at her apprehensively before going on. "Take Jason, for example. I'm sure he does things that drive you completely insane, but you just accept it."

"Everything he does drives me crazy," she laughed, meaning it more than Lulu realized. "He is so damn crazy about his office supplies because I love to steal them…And he has the craziest system for organizing his travel books. First, they're by country, then he judges them by accuracy and most well written, and if I so much as put the second book before the first, he notices immediately, and then tries to re-educate me on his system."

"The worst," she continued on, still grinning, "is that he always wants to pay for everything, like I don't have my own money or something. He always pays for dinner, and if we're shopping, he'll even try to pay for my clothes, and that drives me crazy. I'm not some slut that he picked up at the bar and he's trying to win over, you know? That's not the way to my heart."

"I'm sure he knows that," Lulu said, resting her chin in her hand and staring at her. "He just wants to take care of you, and it sounds like you're not used to that."

Elizabeth stiffened, not sure how to take her remark. Surely, Johnny hadn't told Lulu everything about her. Some things were just too private, especially when it came down to how her entire life had been spent depending on her two best friends, because her family was less than supportive of her ways and her choices. Granted, she had depended on them, probably more than she ever should have, but she was used to making her own money and supporting herself.

"He wasn't always like that," Elizabeth replied, folding her arms over her chest. "I always knew if I needed anything, I could ask him, but within the last year, he just started to take care of me. I guess he feels obligated or he wants to, after everything I've done for him." She shrugged, not sure her words were coming out right. "It's strange though because when Jason does something like that, when he buys me dinner or he talks me down when I'm upset, it's like he does it because he _wants_ to, not because he _has_ to."

"Which is how it's supposed to be," Lulu murmured, frowning briefly. "I don't want to pry, but I'm assuming he's the one you lied to."

Elizabeth suddenly felt like a deer caught in headlights, knowing she'd let Lulu see more than she wanted. She was supposed to be gathering dirt on the girl, not vice versa. Shrugging, she leaned over to grab her purse and got up from the table, hoping Lulu would see the cold shoulder as her answer. She headed towards to the door without saying goodbye, stopping only when she heard Lulu call her name.

Hoping she had a question about the wedding or something trivial, she turned around, her hand pressed against the door, waiting to let her escape.

"Just remember," Lulu started, smoothing out the wrinkles of her neatly pressed pencil skirt, "sometimes it's difficult to be honest with someone that you love, but you don't have to worry about that. If you love someone and they love you, they can always handle the truth because they'll always forgive you."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"So basically, if we continue to further the overseas expansion, it's going to increase our revenue and stocks as well," Johnny finished, sliding a pie chart across Jason's desk. "It's too much money not to pass it up, but we have to be careful or else too much could be, well, too much." O'Brien paused, leaning back in his chair as he tugged at his tie. "Jason, are you listening?"

"Yeah," he lied, frowning at the pie charts, not because he disagreed, but because he just couldn't focus. "However you want to do it."

"Okay," Johnny muttered, sliding the pie charts back into the folder he'd brought with him. He sat back in his chair, scratching a finger over his eyebrow. "What gives, Jason? You're not even paying attention, and usually that's my role."

"Sorry," he said, letting out a deep breath as he tapped his fingers against the arm of his chair. "Can I ask you something?"

He arched an eyebrow, a sly grin coming over his face. "Jason Morgan, are you coming to me for advice?"

"Not advice so much," he replied, shifting uncomfortably as he caught O'Brien's eye. "I, uh, I was wondering about Elizabeth."

"You're asking me about her?" he asked in disbelief, shaking his head as he smoothed a hand over his tie. "I think you've come to the wrong man."

"Not like that," Jason scowled, instantly regretting ever bringing the subject up to his friend in the first place.

Johnny could turn the most pure and innocent thing into something asinine and perverted without even trying.

"Lover's quarrel?" he teased, ignoring Jason's glare and flashing him a toothy grin. "What did you do?"

"Shut the fuck up," Jason spat, getting up from the desk and grabbing the file that Johnny had brought with him. Turning his back to his friend, he opened one of the filing cabinets and busied himself with putting it away.

Until the lover's quarrel comment, Jason had almost forgot that Johnny thought he and Elizabeth were more than just friends, but his friend's remarks from the bar came rushing back. Turning back around to face him, he started to correct Johnny, but stopped.

"Well?" Johnny asked, twiddling his thumbs innocently as he looked up at him.

Sighing, Jason took his seat again and stared at O'Brien intently before finally asking him. "What was she like before?"

He cleared his throat, raking a hand through his short hair, clearly uncomfortable at the mention of Jason Quartermaine. "You, uh, you mean before the accident?"

He nodded, drumming his fingers on the armrests again.

"I don't think she's changed much really," O'Brien answered honestly, shrugging as he leaned forward in his chair. "If anything, she's more scared."

"And before?" he asked, frustrated that his two closest friends had a pile of memories that he should remember, but couldn't.

"She was flightly," he laughed, a fond smile spreading over his lips. "She didn't have a care in the world or anything to worry about, because she always knew she'd have us."

"Still does," Jason muttered, swallowing hard as he stared across the desk at his friend.

Jason Quartermaine was never a topic of discussion. He made sure of it years ago, and for the longest time his friends _never_ even spoke his name. It was like he had never existed or was just a friend they had before Jason Morgan came along.

Honestly, Jason never cared to know anything about him. He heard enough from his former family; about how he was the token golden boy and he was the one with all the pressures to carry on the family name, but lately he felt like he was _missing_ something.

Elizabeth was careful to never make references to the past or to remind him of the person he once was, but she'd slipped up a few times, especially since Johnny had returned home. While it never bothered him before that Johnny and Elizabeth shared this past, lately he found himself wanting to know about it too.

"Well, it was different then," Johnny said, continuing to scratch his brow.

"I guess," he replied, not wanting to pressure O'Brien into talking about something that he clearly didn't want to.

"What's going on? You've never asked about this before."

He shrugged, drumming his fingers harder on the chair arms. "She says stuff sometimes, and I don't get it…I just _can't_ remember."

"You mean about you and her – I mean, Jason Quartermaine and her," Johnny corrected, shifting again in his chair. He was starting to get antsy like he always did when he was uncomfortable, and Jason wouldn't be surprised if he tried to make a quick exit. "Well, you were-they were close."

Jason nodded, already figuring that much.

"She depended on him for everything, and she, uh, she loved him," he said, his eyes dropping to his lap as if he couldn't look at Jason anymore. "He didn't love her though – not in that way at least, and I think she knew that. She always hoped…The accident…She thought the accident took him away from-" He stopped when his phone rang and a look of relief washed over his face. "It's, uh, it's Lulu. I better-"

"Yeah," Jason interrupted, waving him towards the door. "Thanks. We'll catch up later."

Jason leaned back in his chair, watching him disappear through the door, Johnny's words swirling around in his head.

_She depended on him. _

_She loved him. _

And that was the _last_ thing Elizabeth had wanted to do in the last year.

When Johnny first left, she was distant, and when Jason tried to do anything for her, she tensed up and backed away from him. Obviously that had changed drastically because now there was nothing they did without one another, but it had taken months to get to the point where Elizabeth would just allow him to buy her dinner. He wasn't sure exactly how the transition from no dependency to total dependency had occurred, but he wasn't complaining.

Not having Johnny around caused a shift because he was the buffer between Elizabeth and Jason, and they had to get past their issues on their own, or rather, Elizabeth did. He knew that the accident was something that still upset her, even haunted her sometimes, but he didn't know that she was in _love_ with Jason Quartermaine.

It explained so much; mostly why she was so awkward around him when they were alone and why she was hesitant to trust him. He couldn't imagine what it was like for her to look at him and see Jason Quaratermaine, knowing he no longer existed, and he sure as hell couldn't begin to understand how difficult it was for her to just be around him.

Yet, she_ insisted_ on being his friend.

Maybe it spawned out of some loyalty to Jason Quartermaine, or maybe she believed his memory would come back, but her motivations didn't matter after a while. Elizabeth had always been patient and understanding, never failing to make sure he understood she was there for _him_, not who he was before.

_She thought the accident took him away. _

When Johnny left, she was devastated, and Jason just assumed it was due to a broken heart. He always thought she felt more for Johnny than Johnny did for her, but seeing as something had happened between them, he couldn't be sure. She depended on Johnny, doted on him even, and when he left, she didn't know what to do with herself. Jason imagined it had to be like losing someone all over again, especially when Johnny became distant and continued to draw out his trip.

Sighing heavily, Jason rubbed his hands over his face. Johnny coming home had done more than complicate things. Regardless of what Elizabeth thought, Jason knew she wasn't in love with Johnny, that she was hanging onto something that wasn't there. She was hanging onto everything that Johnny _used_ to be, as well as everything that Jason Quartermaine could have been had he not been taken away.

Hell, Jason almost felt guilty, like he was responsible in some way, especially after how he had yelled at her the other night. Granted, she had lied to him and gone behind his back, and Johnny's too, but she thought she was protecting him, and Jason had downplayed her feelings. Or rather, the feelings she thought she had.

Technically he had no right to question her feelings towards Johnny or to tell her she couldn't go after him if she wanted to, but he had _every_ right to worry about it blowing up in her face.

And something told him that was exactly what was going to happen.

Jason glanced up from his book to check the digital clock on his nightstand. It was close to midnight, and outside a thunderstorm was raging so hard that every now and then his walls shook. Sighing, he flipped a page, fighting the urge to call Elizabeth. He knew from the way she'd looked at him in the parking lot of the bar that she was pissed off. Mostly hurt, but _very_ pissed about the things he'd said to her.

Even now, knowing that he hurt her, he didn't regret a word he said. Sure, Elizabeth was in love with Johnny O'Brien, but it was more so the man she'd created in her head, than the one that existed. Or maybe it was the person he was before he left Port Charles, but it was so obvious that he wasn't that man anymore, and she was too stubborn to see it.

The stubborn part didn't surprise Jason very much. She'd always been persistent and determined to an extreme; so much that he worried would lead her towards self-destruction. It was no secret that she was used to getting what she wanted, he and Johnny always made sure of it, but this was different.

Jason couldn't make Johnny love her anymore than Elizabeth could, and he honestly didn't know if he wanted O'Brien to love her. She had such a fixed image of their friend in her head that she was incapable of seeing what was really in front of her. She'd fallen for the alcoholic womanizer, not the sober, smart businessman he'd returned to Port Charles as, and he couldn't understand why she wanted the old Johnny back.

It wasn't much of an adjustment for him to see his friend in a new light. Johnny was finally the person Jason always wanted him to become; responsible, hard-working, and serious, but still able to have a good time. Elizabeth could only see the change, not the good that came from it.

He shifted against his headboard when thunder shook his penthouse again, and decided to give in and call Elizabeth. He'd been expecting her all night long, and it didn't matter if she didn't come, just as long as she was with someone. Swearing, he tossed his phone down beside him when her voicemail picked up, feeling more worried than anything.

Shaking his head, he settled back against the headboard and adjusted his book in his lap. She was a grown woman and capable of braving a storm on her own. After all, Elizabeth was the one that pointed out that she didn't need to come to Jason for everything. He never realized by trying to be there that he'd overstepped his boundaries in some way, and that was the least of his intentions. Like Johnny, all he wanted to do was take care of her, especially since no one else in her life ever had.

His eyes snapped to the doorway of his bedroom when he heard the door open downstairs. Seconds later, it closed softly, the lock clicking into place, followed by the sound of Elizabeth swearing as she shrugged off her jacket and kicked off her heels. He would have smiled had he not been so frustrated with her. Turning his attention back to the book, he flipped another page, listening as she made her way up the stairs, her feet light against the hardwood floors.

He stiffened when he peeked out of the corner of his eye and saw her leaning against his doorway. Closing the book, he tilted his head in her direction, and for a while they just looked at one another. Her rain-soaked curls were plastered to her cheeks and forehead, and her usually bright blue eyes, were darkened by the sadness that filled her face. She chewed her lower lip intently, taking deep breaths before she spoke.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, tugging at the hem of her dark green t-shirt that was damp in some places, no doubt from the downpour outside. "I'm so sorry, Jason."

"I know," he replied, sitting up as she crossed the room and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"I'm sorry that I lied to you," she continued, pulling at her t-shirt in the places that it clung to her skin. "I should have never…" She shrugged, pushing her wet curls away from her face and lifting her eyes to his.

"I know," he repeated, tossing the book down on his nightstand as he got up from the bed. He crossed the room to his dresser, pulled open a drawer and grabbed a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. Walking back over to her, he held them out. "Here. You better get dried off."

She nodded dumbly, taking the clothes as she stood up. "Jason," she murmured, grabbing his wrist when he started to walk away. He cleared his throat, glancing down at her hand before looking her in the eye. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Neither did I," he replied, moving to hold her hand in his. "Just…_Never_ again, Elizabeth."

She nodded, her eyes turning darker when she frowned at him. "I promise," she said, pulling away and heading to his bathroom. She shut the door tightly behind her, even flicking the lot, and Jason continued to feel guilty.

He didn't know how to not be mad at her, and at the same time, he wanted anything except that. There was no doubt in his mind that she was sorry or that she regretted it, and he hated the idea of her feeling bad about this.

There was a crack of lightning, followed by a loud boom of thunder, and the lights flickered for a few seconds before going off completely. A loud crash filled the darkness and Elizabeth swore loudly from within the bathroom.

"Elizabeth, are you okay?" he asked, starting across the room.

"Fine, I just hate-" Thunder cracked again, drowning her out, but Jason knew what she had said.

She _hated_ thunderstorms more than anyone else he'd ever met – and with good reasoning.

"Jason?" she called out, sounding panicked as she rattled the doorknob. "Jason, the door's stuck!"

"One second," he said, reaching through the shadowy room for the door.

"Jason!" she shouted, her hand knocking softly on the other side of the door as the storm roared on outside.

"It's okay," he replied, gripping the handle and shoving himself against the door, and swearing when it didn't budge.

"Jason, please hurry," she murmured, her voice softer this time, and he could tell she was ready to cry.

"Stand back from the door." He braced himself against the handle and threw all his bodyweight against the door, causing it to fly open as another boom of thunder shook the walls.

"I'm sorry," she said, the bathroom filling with a flash of lightning, allowing him to briefly get a look at her. She was pressed up against the wall with her head in her hands wearing only his t-shirt. "I just…I hate this."

"It's okay," Jason replied, reaching out and stroking her arm with the back of his hand.

"Son of a bitch," Elizabeth cried, jumping towards him as the storm raged on. She gripped his t-shirt in her hands as he slid his arms around her. "God, I just…I can't forget."

"I know," he said, smoothing one of his hands over her wet curls as she pressed her face into his chest, letting out a tiny whimper. "It's okay...You're safe. Come on." He pulled her towards the bedroom, rubbing his hand up and down her back as she clung to his side. He was used to this routine having been through it several times in the last year.

Last fall, several months after Johnny had left, Elizabeth showed up on his doorstep one night during a thunderstorm. She'd walked from her apartment, and by the time she made it to the penthouse, she was soaked to the bone and shivering. She was the most distraught that Jason had ever seen her, and it had taken nearly two hours for him to get her to tell him what was wrong.

Jason was so worried he'd been half-tempted to call Johnny, but Elizabeth finally broke down and told him that storms reminded her of Jason Quartermaine's accident. She sat beside him on the couch, hugging her knees with a blanket draped around her shoulders, as she told him everything with Jason's encouragement. It was obvious she didn't want to make him uncomfortable, but all he'd cared about in that moment was letting her do whatever she needed to feel better. He'd already heard his family's retelling of what had happened, but hearing it from Elizabeth tore at his heart.

She recalled the party his family had thrown for his pending graduation, how AJ had played the role he was most privy to; the jealous, selfish brother, and how he spent the night drinking and making snide comments.

She told him how AJ and Jason fought in the foyer of the Quartermaine mansion, trading jabs and lashing out against one another. And how AJ had torn from the house in a rage of fury, only to be followed by his baby brother seconds later.

It was the sounds of the whole night that she said were the most vivid. How the storm boomed outside the house while one raged inside as well, only to pour into the streets when AJ steered the family Bentley into a tree half a block down the road. She described the sound of glass breaking and the crunch of metal; how it reverberated over the storm, echoing around every single person in the house, who knew without a doubt that AJ had done devastating damage.

Jason held her as she cried, while she revisited this painful memory, one that he would later realize never seemed to go away, and ultimately, that night changed _everything_ between them. It was the first night that Elizabeth had needed him and come to him in desperation, and in a way, it was one of the first nights that she trusted him. She always had, but only with Johnny's presence, and that night forced her to open up to him in a way she never had, a way Jason was sure, she never imagined she would.

"You okay?" he asked, sliding his comforter over her tiny form. He could barely make her out in the dark, but somehow their eyes and hands found one another's.

"Yeah, I just…I freaked out like always," she replied, tightening her hold on his hands. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I kept wondering where you were."

"Oh," she said, sounding surprised that he'd worried about her. "Well, I went out with Ritchie for dinner. I thought I could just hang out with him, but...I had him drop me off here afterwards...I didn't know if I should come here…I was afraid you were still upset."

"I'm not," Jason replied seriously, lifting one of his hands to her face and combing his fingers through her wet, tangled curls.

"Good," she whispered, shifting on the mattress and settling her head against the pillow.

He nodded, continuing to stroke his fingers through her hair. "You know you can always come here, Elizabeth."

She rolled onto her back, her hand still clutching his. "I know," she said softly, and he didn't have to see her face to know she was smiling through the darkness.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Jason," Elizabeth groaned, rolling onto her back and smacking his arm that was draped over her middle. "Jason, someone's at the door."

"Tell 'em to go away," he growled into his pillow.

She closed her eyes, telling herself to ignore the pounding on the door downstairs and go back to sleep, but she just couldn't.

"Your penthouse," she said, turning onto her side to find him sleeping soundly, his lips slightly parted as he snored softly.

She tried to shove his arm off her again, but he was like dead weight, so instead she reached over and flicked him in the ear. He mumbled something and slid his other arm around his pillow, hugging it against his face, so she flicked him again, much _harder_ this time.

"Son of a bitch!" he moaned, his eyes snapping open as he yawned. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"You were drooling," she shrugged, laughing when he jerked himself up in bed, wiping his hand over his mouth.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked, yawning again as he rubbed his hands over his tired face. His eyes shifted to the doorway when he finally heard the knocking.

"That," she hissed, tugging the comforter over her tiny body and rolling back over so that her back was to him, "is what's wrong with me. Now get rid of it."

She settled against the bed, pulling the comforter away from his body, and then decided she was hot and pushed it down past her thighs, just a few inches below the hem of his t-shirt she'd slept in. Jason swore at her under his breath for taking the blanket, but his anger subsided as his eyes traveled down her back, over the small curve of her ass, taking in the exposure of her creamy skin.

"Jason!" she whined, swatting at him over her shoulder. "Make it stop before I hurt you."

"Alright," he muttered, getting up from the bed.

She watched him disappear through the doorway before closing her eyes and trying to will herself back to sleep. The storm had roared on for most the night, and she'd found it nearly impossible to get any rest. She hated that after all these years, she couldn't shake the terrible images that came with any bits of thunder and lightning, but thankfully, Jason understood her fears and stayed up most the night talking to her. Ever since she told him about storms reminding her of Jason Quartermaine's accident, he'd been extremely patient when a situation like the one last night occurred.

It was a difficult confession, to let him in on one of her biggest secrets, but it was a weight she'd carried for years, and once she told Jason about her memory of that horrible night, it almost became easier to deal with. She carried that moment with her every single day, and while she understood that Jason didn't want to hear about it, she longed to tell him just so he would know how she felt. It was a relief to have him understand her and hold her close, telling her everything was going to be okay, because when he said it, she really did believe him, and that was difficult enough in itself.

Elizabeth had always known she could trust Jason Morgan, but actually doing it proved more difficult than she thought it would. It would be a lie if she said didn't look at him for the longest time, wondering if a piece of Jason Quartermaine existed somewhere within. It wasn't that she wanted him to revert back to who he was before. She just couldn't imagine what it was like to have existed as a whole other person and have no memory of it at all, especially when they were two completely different men.

Regardless of circumstance and the friendship and feelings she had for Jason Quartermaine, she wouldn't trade Jason Morgan to have him back if her life depended on it. He just meant too much to her, more than he probably realized, and last night had reminded her why.

She laughed into her pillow when she heard him yelling at someone downstairs followed by the slamming of the door. Rolling onto her back, she waited to hear his footsteps on the stairs, but all she got was silence. She figured he was making coffee, maybe even breakfast, and the thought of it made her stomach growl.

While she had gone to dinner with Ritchie, she hadn't eaten a damn thing, mostly because between the fight with Jason and the pending thunderstorm, her stomach had been in knots. Now with both of them behind her, she was starving.

Sighing, she kicked the covers the rest of the way off her body and forced herself out of bed. She glanced around for her clothes and walked over to the bathroom, remembering that was where she last left them, and frowned when they weren't on the floor like they'd been last night. Raking her fingers through her messy curls, she headed downstairs, knowing Jason's dislike for wet items to be left on the floor. She'd heard the towel speech enough times to have it memorized, which came in handy for when she wanted to mock him.

"Jason!" she called out, her bare feet padding softly against the hardwood floors. "Jason, where the hell are my-" She paused when she rounded the corner at the top of the stairs. Johnny spun around from where he was sitting at Jason's desk.

"Clothes?" she finished weakly, her hands tugging at the end of Jason's t-shirt as her friend looked her up and down.

"It's noon, Webber," he smirked, twirling a pen around his hand. "You've always been a lazy ass, but now you're rubbing off on Jason."

"Here's the other paperwork," she heard Jason mutter, appearing at the foot of the stairs second later. He glanced from Johnny to Elizabeth, then back at Johnny before scowling.

"My clothes?" she asked, pressing her bare knees together to try and stop herself from fidgeting.

"Dryer," he replied, handing the papers to Johnny with a shaky hand, which amused Elizabeth, though she had no idea why he was so uncomfortable. He disappeared back towards the kitchen, and though she knew he was getting her clothes for her, she wanted to punch him for leaving her alone with Johnny.

"Long night?" he asked teasingly, as he pressed one of the papers against his knee and circled something.

"Something like that," she murmured, slowly making her way down the stairs, telling herself Johnny had seen her in a lot less, so this was fine.

No big deal at all.

_Yeah. _

_Right. _

_No. _

"So, I actually came over to see you," he said, letting out a deep breath as he shoved the rest of the papers into a file.

"Here?"

He nodded. "I went to your apartment, but you weren't there, so I figured you'd spend the night here."

"Oh," she said, knowing he had a point. She leaned her back against the wall at the foot of the stairs, crossing her arms over her chest. "Did you need something?"

He nodded again, his eyes trailing up her legs as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Well, he still found her attractive, so that _had_ to count for something.

"There's this event tonight at the MetroCourt," he started, just as Jason appeared at her side with her clothes neatly folded in his hands. Her black, lacy bra peeked out from beneath her shirt as if he tucked it away, trying to hide it. "You know how much Jason hates shit like that."

She laughed, taking her clothes and hugging them to her chest. "He doesn't like to kiss ass," she quipped, noticing how quiet and awkward Jason was acting.

"Exactly, and we have some investors and buyers coming in from Manhattan. Lulu doesn't really like those type of parties, so I thought…" He paused, glancing at Jason before he continued. "If it was okay, you could come as my date."

Her eyebrows raised at the offer, though she really wasn't surprised. It wasn't the first time Johnny had asked her to be the token pretty girl on his arm, who could laugh loudly and flirt with all the men over sixty, convincing them nothing was better than O'Brien-Morgan industries.

"So, you want me to put on a short dress and breeze around the ballroom?" she asked coyly, a slow grin spreading across her face.

"As long as it's okay," he repeated, looking from her to Jason.

"Why wouldn't it be?" she asked, shrugging it off.

"Well, great," he muttered, getting up from the chair. He tucked the file under his arm and walked over to give her a quick kiss on the cheek, and she tried to ignore the flutter in her heart at the brief contact. "I'll pick you up at seven. Your place, I assume?" She nodded. "Okay, see you then." He smacked Jason lightly on the arm. "Thanks for this."

Jason stiffened, loudly clearing his throat as Johnny left the penthouse. "Uh, I can explain," he said quietly, rubbing his palm against his forehead.

"Explain what?" she asked, rolling her eyes as she turned to head up the stairs. She didn't even bother to hide her excitement. "He asked me to be his date, which is just the in I needed. I should thank Lulu for being so uptight."

She disappeared up the stairs, leaving a grim-faced Jason behind her.

Johnny clearly thought that Jason was dating Elizabeth. And if they weren't dating, then they sure as hell were sleeping together, seeing as his friend had easily misconstrued that morning, the last year, and Jason and Elizabeth's entire friendship.

Which he had yet to tell Elizabeth, mostly out of fear that she would kill him. Or at least bring great physical and bodily harm, and Jason wasn't prepared for either option.

Taking a deep breath, he lifted his fist to the door of her apartment, hesitating nearly a minute before actually knocking. An hour ago, he'd gotten a call from her, saying she needed his help as soon as he could come over, and if he knew Elizabeth as well as he thought he did, he knew exactly what she needed.

"Oh, thank God!" she cried, opening the door in a plush blue robe, her hair resting on her shoulders in thick, fat curls.

Blush was dusted lightly over her cheekbones, along with smidge of mascara on her eyes and just a touch of lip-gloss. It was easy for him to admit she looked beautiful, anyone with eyes could have seen that, and being Elizabeth, she had no idea how wonderful she looked, even in the bathrobe.

She grabbed his wrist, pulling him into her apartment. "I have no idea what to wear," she hissed, shutting the door and leaning up against it. "You have to help me pick out something, Jason."

_Bingo. _

He wasn't an idiot, and that was exactly why he'd stopped at the liquor store on the way over and picked up a pocket-sized bottle of scotch, to get him through what would be a very headache inducing process.

"You'll look good in anything," he muttered, shaking his head at her messy living room.

The furniture was piled with clothes, some of which still had the tags on them, but he wasn't going to point that out to her. He'd made that mistake and been forced to listen to a speech about the importance of clearance sales.

Elizabeth could be such a _woman_ sometimes.

He made a face at two pizza boxes sitting on the coffee table, wondering how long they'd been there, or worse how molded the food was inside them.

"Will you stop making disgusted faces?" she asked, smacking him on the arm. "My dress is more important than listening to you tell me how messy-"

"If you don't want to clean, hire a maid," he said, walking over to the couch and pushing a pile of clothes to one side.

"I'm not paying some stranger to clean my house," she replied, rolling her eyes as her hands tugged at the front of her robe.

"Fine, I'll do it," he offered, pulling the bottle of scotch from his pocket before sitting down on the couch.

"Really?" she asked, sliding her hand over her hip. "And this cleaning wouldn't be throwing all my shit into trash bags and-"

"I only did that once," he interrupted, unscrewing the cap and taking a swig.

"Why are you drinking?" she asked, forgetting her previous argument.

"You make me want to," he teased, taking another sip.

"Asshole," she hissed, tossing her curls over her shoulder as she headed for her bedroom. "I'll be back in a few minutes, and don't touch my damn clothes."

"Whatever," he muttered, frowning at the pile beside him.

Reaching over, he ran a finger along the shirts at the top, not surprised to see that they were all the same, but just different colors. He was tempted to hide one just to see if she would notice, but he didn't have the energy to deal with dramatics today. He was exhausted, and this whole ordeal was only going to make things worse.

He and Elizabeth had stayed up talking for the half the night, mostly because she was too upset to sleep, and she had confessed she knew wanting to break Lulu and Johnny up was wrong, but that she couldn't help herself. He tried to convince her that she could, that she just needed to be happy for him, but she countered that it wasn't fair and she refused. And to keep her from getting upset, he dropped the subject completely. Jason was hoping that between the bar and their conversation last night, she would get it, but Johnny's offer only fueled the fire more.

And he had no idea how to stop it.

It was much easier to just drink.

"Okay, this is the first one," Elizabeth said, opening her bedroom door. Jason nodded dumbly, taking several swigs of the whiskey before she appeared in front of him, her hands clutching the fitted waistline of the dress. "Well, what do you think?"

He swallowed hard, tightening his hand around the bottle as his eyes trailed up her creamy, toned legs to meet the silky cerulean material, the same exact color of her eyes, as it hung loosely against her thighs.

"Jason?"

"Yeah." His eyes lifted to her face, dropping to the short sleeves of the dress and trying to not so obviously take in the plunging neckline.

"Well?"

"It's low," he muttered, bringing the bottle back to his lips and taking a swig.

"Son of a bitch," she said, turning around to face the mirror behind her. "You're right. I look like a tramp, and appearing easy isn't good…I mean, I do want to say leave your fiancé and bang me, but-"

"Next dress," he interrupted, waving his hand at her as he took another sip.

"Huh?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder at him and rolling her eyes. "I really hope you're taking a cab home."

He nodded, waving her towards the bedroom, thinking he was getting a cab as soon as possible.

And going to the _bar_.

And picking up a _woman_.

And getting _laid_.

Because between Johnny and Lulu and Elizabeth and wedding plans and everything else, it had just been far too long. The fact that he was sitting on a frumpy couch and drinking scotch while practically eye-fucking his best friend proved it.

This was _bad._

"Okay, this is the second one," she said, her door opening again. "I have one more, well, I have more than one more, but I narrowed it down to three." She sighed heavily when she stepped in front of him, grabbing the loose material on her hips and shaking it as she laughed softly. "Well?...And go easy on me, you called me a tramp in the last dress."

"I didn't call you a tramp," he replied, his voice low and husky as he took another drink from the bottle.

She arched her eyebrows as she slid a hand over her hip, drumming her fingers on her side. Jason nodded, not sure what to say because it was just like the first dress, hugging every possible curve and showing off everything she shouldn't.

It was red – the kind of red that would turn heads when she walked into the room, and the bodice was fitted tightly, allowing for a perfect display of her cleavage. The material clung to her sides, all the way to her hips, where it belled out, allowing the material to shimmy as she moved.

"Jason?"

"Huh?" he asked, lifting his eyes to hers and realizing that her hair was swept out away from her face in a tiny red band, causing the curls to cascade down her back.

"You suck at this," she muttered, shaking her head as she turned to the mirror. Sighing, she smoothed her hands over the back, forcing the material to mold against her behind, and Jason grunted, no longer able to take it.

"Wear that," he said, getting up from the couch and polishing off his bottle.

She turned around, surprised by his quick decision. "You haven't even seen the last one."

"I don't need to," he muttered, trying several times to screw the lid back on the empty bottle before actually succeeding. "That's the dress."

"Okay," she said, turning back to the mirror and frowning at her reflection. "If you're sure."

"I'm sure," he replied flatly, knowing it was the kind of dress that should be appreciated and admired, and that Johnny wouldn't be able to fully appreciate it.

But this was Elizabeth.

She'd find someone at the party to take notice.

She always did.

"I have to go," he said, tossing his head towards the door and looking her over one last time.

"Are you okay?" she asked, reaching out to touch his arm.

He jerked away, backing towards the door. "Yeah, just work stuff," he replied, not paying attention as he backed into the door. "Have fun at the party." Grabbing the doorknob, he hurried out the door before she could reply, pulling it tightly closed behind him. He leaned up against it briefly, taking a deep breath.

_What the fuck. _

This was really, _really _bad.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"You don't look like you're enjoying yourself," Johnny murmured, grazing Elizabeth's arm with the back of his hand.

Her skin tingled slightly under his touch, and she found herself wanting to pull away, but blamed it on the alcohol. "This isn't the crowd of men you usually entertain," she replied, lifting her glass of wine off the bar and taking a long sip.

She swirled the dark liquid around in her mouth as she turned to face the guests, a hundred or so men over seventy, each with their own tiny, bleached-blonde wife who was all of thirty. The second she stepped into the ballroom at the Metro Court, she'd stuck out like a sore thumb, her dark curls, a sharp contrast to all the blonde and graying silver.

"I've learned that good investors are the ones over forty, and the true money makers are the retired and over sixty-five. They have nothing else to do with their money, so why not buy stocks in coffee beans. They get to sit on their fat, wrinkly asses and watch their bank accounts grow, while doing nothing but smoking their Cuban cigars and drinking well-aged scotch."

"You want to be just like them, don't you?" she asked, smiling to herself as she finished off her glass.

"You know it," he replied, flashing a quick smile as he snapped his fingers at the bartender, and ordered her another drink.

She had to admit that she was surprised at how smooth things had gone the entire night. He picked her up promptly, and the drive to the hotel was filled with anything but small talk. Johnny filled Elizabeth in on his travels overseas, and she found herself feeling a little sad that Jason wasn't there to hear it all. He had at least seen all these places that O'Brien talked about, and she found herself smiling at the thought of her best friends exchanging anecdotes about ancient cities in Greece and the lights of Paris.

Jason was right; Johnny _really_ had changed.

Not that she minded any of that really, seeing as every change was for the better. It was just the petite, blonde tramp he was carting around town that was eating her up inside. She had better luck with Johnny than she did with Lulu when it came to getting him to confess her faults. He had no problem saying that it frustrated him that his fiancé took no interest in his business affairs and didn't like to mix and mingle at parties. He also followed it up with something about how Lulu didn't take being groped as good for the business, and Elizabeth tried to ignore the fact that her friend was implying she did.

"So, have you made any connections?" she asked, as he handed her a fresh glass of wine.

"I doubt you really want to talk business," he replied, leaning against the bar, a short glass of scotch in his hand.

"Drinking when the wifey's away?" His eyes darkened briefly, and he set the glass down without touching it. "I didn't mean to-"

"I know," he cut in, shrugging half-heartedly. "You think she's changed me."

"Maybe," she said, wanting to talk about anything but Lulu. "You never were one for women like her, Johnny. I guess I'm still coming to terms with the fact that you're dating Joan Cleaver."

"There it is!" he sighed, shaking a finger at her.

"There's what?" she asked, rolling her eyes and sipping her wine.

"Drunk Lizzie," he replied, laughing and taking her glass out of her hand.

"Hey!"

"Oh, I'll give it back, but you've got that whole glazed over look to your eyes and that crooked smile that makes your lip twitch," he said, setting her glass on the bar. "I want to know the truth."

"Truth?" she grunted, wrapping one of her curls lazily around her finger. "You can't handle it, O'Brien."

"Try me," he murmured, leaning in closely and touching her arm again.

Her eyes dropped to his hand, then lifted back to his face. "How honest?"

"As honest as best friends are supposed to be," he challenged, arching his eyebrows.

She turned to face him, pressing her hip against the bar, and picked up her glass of wine. "I don't think you're ready or drunk enough to hear what I have to say," she replied, taking several gulps, and nearly polishing the glass off on the spot.

"Slow down," he hissed, grabbing the glass and pulling it away. "You're more of a lush than all these old fogies."

"You're the one that wants the drunken truth," she reminded him, placing a hand on her chest. "And the truth is…I don't think you should marry her."

_There it was. _

The one sentence she'd been trying to say since he'd come back to town, and she'd started planning his stupid wedding.

He nodded as if he figured that was what she would say and grabbed his scotch. "I don't think it's any of your business," he replied, setting the glass back down as if he couldn't bring himself to take a drink. "And you don't want to get into this here, Elizabeth."

"Why not? You started this all," she said, almost feeling guilty that she'd hurt him. "Maybe that's why you invited me. You thought, I'll get her drunk, and find out what she really thinks. And what I think is that your stupid fiancé, Princess Purity, is the wrong choice and nothing you say could make me change my mind."

"You're just jealous," he growled, pushing himself away from the bar and turning to leave. She grabbed him by the arm, and when he tried to jerk out of her grasp, tumbled forward, slightly unstable from the wine and stiletto combination. "I'm going to get you a cab."

Before she could protest, he slid an arm around her waist, gripping her elbow tightly and steering her towards the elevators. "I just wanted us to have a good time tonight," he said, punching the button and still clutching her at the waist.

"We could have," she replied, digging her fingernails into his hand that was at her hip. He didn't budge or flinch. "But you had to spend the entire night droning on about Lulu, and I get that she's everything to you or whatever trite garbage you've managed to convinced yourself-"

"You're walking a fine line, Elizabeth," he warned, as the doors opened. He shoved her inside hurriedly and hit the button for the lobby. "I thought if I told you some things about her, you'd warm up, but clearly I thought too highly of you…The sad thing is, she actually likes you for some ungodly reason."

"The same could be said for you," she slurred, bracing herself against the railing that wrapped around the elevator. "So maybe she just has poor taste in judgment."

"I don't know how Jason puts up with your shit," he hissed, pacing back and forth and waiting impatiently for the doors to open to the lobby. "I had a hard enough time doing it on my own."

"What?" she asked, his statement sinking in. "I guess I was just an _obligation_."

"Just like I was a _Jason Quartermaine _stand in," he replied quietly, as the doors swung open to a grinning Jasper Jax.

"Well, Johnny O'Brien, I heard you were back in town," he said, holding out his hand to shake his as he stepped off the elevator.

Elizabeth hung back briefly, trying to pretend that it was the wine blurring her vision and not her tears. She couldn't believe he had the nerve to throw Jason Quartermaine in her face, not when he was there, not when he_ knew_ what all that had been like for her.

"You better step off," Jax said, grabbing one of the doors as they started to close.

"Oh, sorry," she said weakly, giving him a faint smile. She could feel Johnny looking her over, was sure that he was sorry, but she just didn't give a damn anymore. "I have to get a cab. Nice to see you, Jasper." She squeezed his hand as she passed him, refusing to look O'Brien in the eye.

She heard him quickly dismiss Jax and hurry after her, and even when he caught up to her and held the doors open to the front of the hotel, she didn't give him any attention.

"Elizabeth, I'm sorry," he muttered, stepping in front of her as she waved her hands at one the cabs across the street.

"Leave me alone," she replied, her lower lip trembling.

"You don't know what it's like to have you casting all these stones at me, when you're guilty too," he said, grabbing her by the shoulders to keep her from turning away.

"I didn't do anything wrong," she replied defensively, relieved to see the cab doing a u-turn in the middle of the street and heading for the front of the hotel.

"What happened that night shouldn't have happened when I knew I was leaving. It was wrong to hurt you like that, and I just didn't…I didn't think about it," he murmured, swallowing hard and watching the cab pull to the curb.

"So, I'm just a girl who didn't make the notches on Johnny O'Brien's bedpost," she said, annoyed when he opened the car door for her and motioned her inside.

"You're the girl who never belonged on my bedpost," he replied seriously, looking her in the face. She started to slide into the seat, but he grabbed her arm and stopped her. "I get that you don't like Lulu, or think that she's right for me, but I love her, and I just-I hope that will be enough."

She nodded, knowing that like her fight with Jason, this one was already over the second it began. She could say whatever she wanted to Johnny and he would forgive her, just as she would him.

Or she would at least try. It was going to take a while to get the Jason Quartermaine comment out of her head, though she knew or rather hoped, he meant nothing by it.

She was too drunk to dwell on anything now.

"Stop acting so crazy," he said, his thumb stroking her bare arm. "It's not fair to Jason."

"What does that matter?" she asked, confused as to why he was being brought up yet again.

"Things are finally good between you two, the way they should be," he replied, leaning forward and pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. "Not that I'm surprised that you two found one another. You know, I think you were always meant to be. I just wish things had happened differently, that's all."

Nodding again, she lowered herself into the cab, frowning as she watched him close the door and wave goodbye. None of it made any sense to her, the concern for Jason, or the comments about him, when she was trying so hard to make Johnny the focus.

"Where to?" the driver asked, pulling the car onto the street.

…_you two found one another…_

…_always meant to be…_

…_son of a bitch…_

"Harbor View Towers," she said, settling back against the seat. "And step on it."

"Come on," Jason growled, his eyes half slits as the blonde, who was straddling his waist, fumbled with his belt buckle.

Fuck, he was _really_ drunk.

He had done exactly what he told Elizabeth he would; called a cab, went to _Jake's_, played some pool, picked up a fairly attractive woman, and now he was going to screw her on this very couch.

"Here let me," he hissed, sure that she was as intoxicated as he was, and that was the cause for the struggle.

Scooting her off him, he stood up, quickly undoing the belt and jerking it out of the loops. He tossed it to the floor as she reached for the snap of his jeans, and the penthouse door suddenly flew open.

"Jason, you ass-" Elizabeth shouted, her mouth falling open when she realized the scene she'd come upon.

"What the hell are you doing?" she cried, holding her hands over eyes and literally stomping her feet on the floor.

"Don't you knock?" he spat, pulling the blonde's hands away from his pants.

"Who the hell is she?" she asked, pointing at the woman on the couch, who was looking at Elizabeth with a matching expression.

"Are you married?" she asked worriedly, looking up at Jason.

"No!" they both answered, still glaring at one another.

"But I need to talk him, so you need to leave," Elizabeth said, her hands on her hips. She shifted her eyes to the woman when she didn't move. "Fine, I'm his wife, and if you don't get out, I'm going to stick my stiletto in your eye."

Jason let out a deep breath and rubbed his hands over his face in frustration. It wasn't even about Elizabeth. It was the fact that he'd been _so_ close. Couldn't she have been a half an later longer and caught them as he was putting her in a cab and sending her home?

"I don't do the married thing or the swinging thing or whatever thing you thought I was going to," the blonde said seriously, pushing herself up from the couch.

Elizabeth dug through her purse as she made her way to the door. "Here, get yourself a cab," she murmured, shaking her head. "And don't ever come near my husband again." When she started to reply, she grabbed her by the arm, shoving the blonde out the door and slamming it closed behind her. "What the fuck is it with the men in my life being attracted to stupid, bleached-blonde bimbos?"

"Hey, she wasn't a bimbo," Jason replied, picking his belt up from the floor and sliding it back through the loops. Thankfully, adjusting his clothes was the only rearranging he had to do. Elizabeth's appearance was enough to ruin any turn on he'd had. "She was studying math or something."

"College or high school?" she asked, arching an eyebrow and tossing her purse down on his desk.

"Johnny dates the underage girls, not me," he reminded her, grabbing his beer from the coffee table and sitting down on the couch. "So I take it your night wasn't going well, so you figured why not fuck up mine."

"Well, you don't usually bring sluts back to your penthouse," she muttered, walking over to him. She started to sit down on the couch, but stopped and moved to the chair. "Get that thing exterminated.

"If I remember correctly, you've been a bar tramp in your own right," he pointed out, rubbing his thumb up and down the glass bottle.

"Only I let them screw me up in the dirty rooms above the bar, so I don't have to do the walk of shame when I slink out of bed the next morning," she replied, narrowing her eyes at him.

"No, you just have to hurry past Coleman when he's locking the doors at three a.m."

"Asshole," she spat, rubbing the palms of her hands roughly against the chair arms.

He wasn't a complete idiot and knew that he'd done something to piss her off. She was talking in that high-pitched nasally tone of her's, which she insisted didn't exist, but he'd heard it enough to know. It wasn't a cry, but it wasn't quite a screech, and it did a number on his ears.

"What did I do?" he asked hesitantly.

"I'm not sure," she replied, taking a deep breath and clucking her tongue. "Why does Johnny think you and I are together?" He sucked in a breath, shifting uncomfortably on the couch. "Well, I seem to have gotten left out in the dark on that one."

Jason nodded, knowing that he was completely set up. If he spoke, she was going to flip out, and if he stayed silent, she was going to rant. Either way she was going to bitch and he just didn't know what to do.

So, he drank his beer.

"You are such an asshole," she said, getting up from the chair. She leaned over, grabbed his beer from his hand, and plopped down beside him. "How could you honestly let him believe something like that?"

"I didn't know how not to," he replied honestly, reaching for his beer, only for her to smack him away.

"You couldn't say, hey, I'm not banging her because she wants to bang you," she said, motioning back and forth with the beer bottle.

"Bang," he grunted, his head falling on the back of the couch.

"Or maybe, that it's insane to think about me banging Elizabeth because she's Elizabeth, and this whole thing is just really freaking me out, Jason," she admitted, periodically slurring her words. "Isn't this weird for you? I mean, Johnny's practically been there, and now he thinks you've been there and-"

"Elizabeth?"

"What?"

"Shut up," he growled, jerking the bottle from her hand and taking a sip.

The last thing he wanted to think about was Johnny seeing Elizabeth naked, or Elizabeth being naked, or wanting to see her naked.

Sometimes being a man with Elizabeth as a best friend was far too complicated.

"So, did you set him straight?" Jason asked curiously.

"No, but unlike you, I have an excuse. Or at least I think I do…I've had lots of time to think about this," she protested, turning around and drawing her knees beneath her. She leaned back against the couch arm and looked Jason in the eye. "Like really think."

"It's a ten minute cab ride to here from the Metro Court," Jason said, rolling his eyes.

"I think fast," she replied, holding her hand out for the beer. He handed it over, waiting for her to continue. "I mean, Johnny said a lot of stuff tonight, and so did I, and he was all, what happened shouldn't have, and I knew you'd end up with Jason, which makes no sense."

"He promised me he was going to come back, that was the only reason why we didn't sleep together. I mean he was there and it could have-"

"Was this what you spent all your time thinking about?" he interrupted, hoping she would get to the point before he kicked her out, just like she'd done the blonde.

"No, I just…I mean, I guess it makes sense. We're always together, and he totally caught me in your t-shirt the other morning with bed head, which could have been post-morning romp head, and-"

"Your point please?"

"What if he moved on with Lulu because he thought I was sleeping with you?" she asked seriously, holding the beer between her knees and looking Jason in the eye. "What if he really did want-"

"You shouldn't think like that," Jason cut in, not wanting to hurt her feelings, but prevent giving her some kind of false hope.

"But what if-"

"People make their own choices, Elizabeth," he said slowly, reaching for the beer, but he dropped his hand to her knee instead, smoothing it over the flimsy material. "Regardless of whether you and I were together, if Johnny wanted you, he could have come back at any time. Why would I be the reason to stop? This is Johnny we're talking about, and he goes after something when he wants it."

She nodded, working her lip back and forth between her teeth.

"I'm not saying that he didn't want you, or that you were nothing to him. I don't know what he felt. I'm not Johnny, and-"

"You don't have to explain," she shrugged quietly, looking at his hand as he rubbed her knee. "I get it. All that matters is that he didn't come back."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Here," Elizabeth muttered, dropping a bottle of water into his lap as she stepped over his legs that were resting on the coffee table.

"Son of a bitch," he hissed, as it landed uncomfortably in his lap. He glared at her, biting back any further remarks, and shifted uncomfortably on the couch.

"Sorry about that," she replied, grinning as she threw herself down beside him.

He shook his head, dropping the cold rag back over his face and settled against the cushions.

It wasn't her fault that he made it _so_ easy for her to torture him. Not to mention that he'd been whining about needing water for the last hour, and she was just as hung over as he was, and yet, he forced her to practically crawl to the bathroom to get him a damp cloth, and then to the kitchen for a bottle of water.

"So, what do I need to expect from Johnny today at the meeting?" he asked, drawing the cloth away from his eyes and peeking over at her.

"I don't know," she replied quietly, lifting her legs onto the couch and hugging her knees to her chest.

His brow furrowed briefly, but he just sighed, pulling the cloth back over his face. She was relieved that he didn't press her any further, and it wasn't like Johnny wouldn't fill him in on her antics, but then again, he wasn't saying much of anything these days.

"Jason?' she asked, rubbing her cheek against her bare knee as she tucked the material of her dress between her legs. She had fallen asleep on the couch in her clothes from the night before, Jason in the chair across from her.

"Yeah?" he grunted, taking a swig of his water, most of his face still hidden beneath the cloth.

"If he says anything to you…"

"I'll let you know," he finished, shifting again on the couch.

She was going to tell him not to, but of course, he assumed she wanted to know, and at this point, she just wasn't sure what she wanted anymore.

Ever since Johnny had come back to town, she wanted him and _only_ him, and when he asked her for the truth last night, she told him not to marry Lulu because she wasn't right for him.

Not once did she mention wanting him or loving him, and she had no idea why. The speech had been rehearsed and practiced in her bathroom mirror, and while she hadn't imagined him falling at her feet and returning her declarations, she'd had the chance to say what she wanted, but _didn't_.

She tried to figure out when things had gotten so complicated between them, when the innocence they had growing up as kids was lost, and life became one confusing mess. She could argue it was Jason Quartermaine's accident, but even before that, things were amuck. Be it teenage hormones or misplaced feelings, the day she acknowledged having feelings for Jason Quartermaine was probably the day it was all shot to hell.

No longer were they just Johnny, Jason, and Elizabeth braving the world together, but instead they were Jason and Elizabeth and_ their _friend, Johnny. Sure, Jason hadn't openly reciprocated her feelings, and she would never know if he _really_ wanted her, but he gravitated towards her nonetheless, and they were closer with every passing day, pushing Johnny just a little bit more on the outside.

And now the same thing had happened all over again.

Maybe that was why Johnny assumed she and Jason were finally together. She was aware that their relationship wasn't normal; that it was dependent to a fault, but neither she nor Jason seemed to mind. It wasn't like it was intentional, that she was trying to replace Johnny, and she hated that he thought that, which judging from his comment the night before he clearly did.

_God, she was a fucking mess. _

She sighed heavily, her eyes brimming with tears at the thought of Johnny's Jason Quartermaine comment. She'd never intended on putting one of them before the other. It was just a natural progression, and she'd never thought about it or what it meant until now.

"Jason?" she asked again, wiping her eyes with her fingertips before turning to look at him.

"Yeah," he murmured, pulling the cloth from his face and dropping it onto the couch. He yawned, his eyes crinkling in the corners.

"Johnny said something to me last night," she said, her voice breaking and her face flushing with embarrassment.

"What did he say?" he asked, sitting up beside her.

"You know how I told him not to marry Lulu," she replied slowly, telling herself not to cry and make things more complicated.

"What did you do?" he asked, shaking his head and looking away.

"Why do you assume I did something?" she cried defensively, dropping her legs from the couch and glaring at him.

"I imagine anything he had in response to you telling him not to marry his fiancé-"

"Go to hell, Jason," she spat, pushing herself up from the couch and hurrying past him.

"Elizabeth, come on," he said, getting up from the couch as she stopped to jerk on her shoes that were kicked off by the door.

"Shut up," she hissed, swearing when she tugged on the strap of her shoe and it broke off. "Contrary to what you think, Jason, I'm not some selfish bitch out to steal Johnny back from Lulu."

"I didn't say that," he groaned, rubbing a hand over his face.

"Well, what do you think he said to me?" she asked, her chin quivering as she gave up on her shoes, kicking them aside and opening the door. "Obviously, it was justified right? Isn't that what you were getting at?" He let out a deep breath, folding his arms cross his chest as he stared at her. "You really can go to hell."

"So, I'm going to meet with the two guys from Manhattan next weekend after Elizabeth's showing, and then Lulu and I will leave the following week for France, so she can get her dress and fill her mother in on everything," Johnny said, tapping his pen on the edge of Jason's desk. "Then her parents are coming back with us, and it's just crazy…Can you believe I'm getting married in less than a month?"

"Guess not," he continued, tossing the pen down on the desk.

"Sorry," Jason muttered, glancing down at the makeshift schedule Johnny had jotted out for him. He wasn't too happy about having to deal with a couple of investors while his friend was away, but figured if he could convince Elizabeth to come along and sidetrack them from his terrible pitches, he would be okay.

That is, _if _she was speaking to him by then.

Sure, they'd fought over the last year, telling one another off time and time again. Hell, one night he was even screamed at all along Main Street for dragging her out of the bar to keep her from sleeping with Lucky Cassidine, yet again, and she'd pouted for days after, but that was nothing compared to this.

Not once had she ever told him to go to hell with a glare and tone that had left him feeling this miserable.

Not once had he ever wanted to chase after her and apologize, swearing to never be an asshole again.

And all for something he still didn't understand.

"She told you," Johnny sighed, shaking his head and getting up from the chair.

"Huh?"

"Elizabeth, she told you about last night," he continued, raking a hand through his hair. "I just got so pissed off, Jason."

He raised his eyebrows not sure what his friend was getting at, but figured he'd let him get there on his own.

"She told me she didn't want me to marry Lulu, and then she started slamming her, and she brought up what happened…" He grimaced, as if he'd gone too far or brought up something inappropriate. Jason shrugged, looking away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say it, it just came out of my mouth, and man, I thought she was going to cry. And I hate when Elizabeth cries."

Jason perked up, leaning forward in his chair. Something _had_ happened, and not only had it upset, but it nearly made her cry, neither of which sat well with him at all. "What did you do?"

"She didn't tell you?" he asked, his shoulders falling as he realized he'd walked right into it.

"She was upset when she left this morning," he replied seriously, not able to shake the look on her face before she walked out the door. How sad and defeated she'd been.

"Fuck," Johnny hissed, kicking the leg of the chair he'd been sitting in. "Promise me you're not going to get mad, okay?"

Jason clenched his jaw as he rubbed his palms roughly against the chair arms. "What did you say to her?" he asked, his chest tightening with guilt.

"I told her what happened between us shouldn't have."

Even _if_ he did regret it, Johnny should have never told her that.

"That it was wrong of me to lead her on."

His best friend was the _stupidest_ person alive.

"And I may have made a really bad comment about Jason Quartermaine."

Leave it to Johnny to lay it on nice and thick for her.

"What did you say about him?" Jason asked, his tone letting his friend know he was demanding to know, not asking.

"Look, I didn't mean it. I was just frustrated, or maybe I did…I just-"

"Johnny, what the fuck did you say to her?" he asked, grabbing some files from his desk to distract himself from the desire to punch him, but still gave himself the option to throw something. Thinking twice, he dropped the files and picked up a square, glass paperweight, clutching it tightly in his hand.

"I, uh, well, she said she was just an obligation to me," he replied, swallowing hard as he paced back and forth. "Which is the furthest thing from the truth, and you know that, Jason. She never was-"

"But you didn't tell her that," he cut in, narrowing his eyes at him and letting out a deep breath, quickly losing his patience.

"No."

"Well?"

"I told her she thought I was just a Jason Quartermaine stand in," he replied grimly, looking at Jason with apologetic eyes.

"You stupid fuck," he hissed, the paperweight flying from his hand without even thinking about it.

"There," Elizabeth muttered in satisfaction, turning off the vacuum and smiling at her perfectly cleaned apartment. Granted, the vacuum had left a trail of dust from all that it had collected in the back of her hall closet, but aside from that, the room was sparkling clean.

Every clothing item in her living room had been washed, folded, and put away, and what wasn't had been boxed and stacked by the door, waiting to be donated to _Good Will_. The pizza boxes, Chinese cartons, and empty wine glasses had been disposed off and washed, and the trash was waiting to be thrown out on garbage night. Her plush blue rug was soft and cozy beneath her feet, the grit and grime having been sucked into the vacuum or scrubbed away with her brush and mop bucket. Even the furniture seemed to be smiling at her, the cushions fluffed and the throws tucked neatly into the couch, happily matching her polished coffee table.

And she _almost_ felt better.

She unplugged the vacuum and started to wrap the cord up, but just let it drop to the floor and walked over to the couch, throwing herself face down onto the cushions. Cleaning wasn't as much fun without someone around to appreciate it, or rather make fun of her for doing it, but she refused to mope over Jason.

Rolling over, she reached for the remote, pausing long enough to take in the nice, clean smell of her couch. Yawning, she sat up and flicked the television on just as someone knocked on her door. She sat up, turned the TV back off, and heavily debated answering it, just because it could be Jason.

She _wanted _him to fester for a while.

"Elizabeth? Are you home?"

"Oh, this is fantastic," she muttered, pulling herself up from the couch and walking over to her door. She peeked through the whole, hoping that it was some other annoying blonde, and not Lulu Spencer-soon-to-be-O'Brien standing on her doorstop.

Alas, it was.

She undid the chain and flicked the lock. "Hi," she said curtly, opening the door halfway.

"Oh, good you're here," she murmured, sounding relieved. She stared at Elizabeth for a few seconds, and then became uncomfortable when she realized she wasn't being invited inside. "Well, I was hoping we could talk."

"Uh, huh," Elizabeth replied, leaning against the door and rolling her eyes at the blonde's perfectly put together outfit.

She was dressed in ironed khaki skirt and starched button-downed blouse, every curl on her head neatly rounded, her black headband matching her belt, and her black flats, perfectly matching her designer bag the entire way down to the silver clasp on both of them. She looked incredible next to Elizabeth and her dirty yoga paints and sweat-soaked tank top.

_And she hated her for it. _

"It's just, Johnny didn't come back to the hotel last night, and he said it was work, but I'm afraid something else is going on," she sighed, frowning heavily as she stared at the brunette.

Elizabeth's eyes rose at her comment and a slow smirk formed across her face. "Well, he was having such a good time when I left him last night," she lied, stepping aside and motioning her in. "Maybe he just had too much to drink."

"I worried that was it, but when I talked to him, he was so upset," she replied, stopping when she stepped into the living room.

She tried to ignore the look of shock on the blonde's face, how she glanced around clearly wondering if they were in the right apartment.

"I thought _you_ might know why," Lulu finished, turning around to face her, her purse tucked beneath her arm.

"Me?" she asked, biting her tongue at the tone she'd used as if Elizabeth had _done_ something to upset him.

"You were with him," she replied, forcing a smile at her. "He told me how you don't mind flirting with the old men and asked if it would bother me if he took-"

"I mind the old men," Elizabeth corrected her, instantly infuriated with Johnny's stupid fiancé. "But I like helping Johnny and Jason, even if that means I have to bat my eyes at some geezer with old money…I also like helping them with their business."

"It's always bored me," she admitted, cracking a smile as she sat down on the couch, looking as though she belonged there. Apparently she could make herself at home now that she thought the apartment was sanitary.

"Yeah, Johnny told me that," she replied, kicking the door closed with her foot, not surprised that Lulu looked annoyed. "We all have our little faults that drive _our_ boyfriends wild."

"I wouldn't say it's a fault," Lulu said, looking at her confused. "If anything, I was just raised that a woman doesn't stick her head where it doesn't belong."

Elizabeth grunted, folding her arms over her chest. The battle lines were being drawn, and she didn't even have to take the first shot. "What do you want?"

"To know why Johnny didn't come home," she replied seriously, tugging uncomfortably at her collar. "He was with you, and I know that somehow _you_ upset him, even if it wasn't intentional, but I could just tell."

_This was it. _

First, Johnny had to act like _she_ was the one at fault.

Then, Jason jumped to conclusions about how _she_ had started all of this.

And now, Lulu wanted to know what the fuck _she_ had done to her precious John Boy.

"If by upsetting him, you mean I demanded to know why he nearly slept with me and led me on for a whole year, only to come back to town with someone else," Elizabeth said, failing to choose her words carefully, "then yeah, _I upset him_."

She wasn't sure how long Lulu sat there, the silence consuming her as Elizabeth's words sank in. She saw the change in Lulu's face, how her lips shook and her smile became strained, her hands clutching the purse to her lap.

The blonde's eyes lifted to her's, filling with tears as she stared up at her. "I knew it," she said quietly, shaking her head in disbelief. "I knew he lied to me."

"Lulu," she murmured guilty, already regretting her words, but she was getting up from the couch and walking over to the door. "Lulu, wait."

"You don't have to say anything," she replied, raking a hand through her hair and messing up her curls. "You don't have to say anything at all."

She was out the door before Elizabeth could stop her, pulling it closed behind her. She didn't slam it, but it was clear that she didn't want to be followed.

"Fucking idiot," she moaned, cradling her face in her hands as she threw herself back down on the couch, letting out a high pitched scream of frustration.

She _almost_ hated herself more than she could ever hate Lulu.

Sitting up, she reached instinctively for her phone to call Jason, wanting to tell him so he could somehow warn Johnny, but that just wasn't an option. She sat back trying to figure out what exactly was going through Lulu's head right now and how upset she was going to be with her fiancé, and then she cursed herself for feeling bad for her.

It was possible that Lulu thought she still wanted Johnny or vice versa, and that maybe coming back to Port Charles had upset him, and while yes, some of it was true, Lulu just wasn't supposed to know. She couldn't know that Elizabeth was stealing, or rather wanted to steal her fiancé because that would just be, well, tacky.

Lulu _had_ to remain otherwise convinced.

Elizabeth smirked.

Then grinned.

And finally she snickered.

All the while knowing she couldn't, but she really had been left with no other choice.

Flipping open her phone, she dialed Ritchie's number, waiting impatiently for him to answer.

"Now, why is my favorite girl calling me mid-afternoon?" he asked, his words half-slurred, and she knew he'd hit the bar on his lunch break.

"Can it, jerk," she replied, rolling her eyes and picking at a stain in the couch cushion. "I need a favor."

"Anything for you," he laughed, and she knew he was wearing some loopy, drunken grin on his face.

To think, she had seriously contemplated sleeping with him at one point.

"I need you to get Jason to the Metro Court Restaurant tonight at seven, and I need him in a suit," she said slowly, frowning when she realized she hadn't thought about how to get Johnny and Lulu there.

"How in the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"I also need you to get Lulu and Johnny there, which may be hard because they are fighting, but you're smart and you can set up some lie or something, right?"

"You said a favor, not two, and the first one is going to be hard enough."

"Ritchie, if you do this for me the next time we're alone..."

"Yeah?"

"I'll let you do more than cop a feel," she purred, rolling her eyes when he groaned on the other end. She hung up before he could reply, knowing he'd come through, and that for the rest of her life, she could never be alone with him again.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Elizabeth was nervous, and while it wasn't a feeling that was necessarily new to her, this time it was different. She'd dug herself into a hole and was now attempting to claw her way out, which could easily backfire seeing as she was putting a lot of faith in Jason to comply without any complications.

And she knew him well enough to know there would be _plenty_ of complications.

"You look lovely as always," Jax purred, stepping up behind Elizabeth as she waited impatiently for the elevator in the lobby of the MetroCourt Hotel.

"Thank you, Jasper," she replied, ignoring the way the businessman looked her up and down, though that was the response she was going for.

She smiled at herself in the reflection of the elevator doors before they parted, appreciating what would have been dress number three, had Jason allowed her to make it that far. It was the one that would have brought him to his knees, as well as Johnny, and Jax had confirmed that fact.

"Need an escort to the restaurant?" he asked, stepping in beside her and holding out his arm.

"If you were on your way up," she replied, sliding her arm through his as he punched the button.

She found herself smiling at her reflection in the doors again, her eyes sweeping over the bust of her strapless navy dress, knowing that while the material perfectly covered her breasts, from the right angle; say if she leaned forward just a little bit, they would be displayed in full force. Smoothing a hand over her hip, she smirked at how nicely the material clung to her hips and flowed out loosely, cutting off just below her knee, the slit on either side allowing her thighs to peek out as she walked.

She would have stomped on Jax's foot had he not been looking at her just the way she wanted him too.

"I assume you're meeting Jason and Johnny," he said, looking at her from the corner of his eye.

"Of course," she replied, hoping that his comment meant the men had actually shown up, and neither were as upset with her as they had a right to be.

"Enjoy your dinner," he murmured, as the doors parted and he escorted her off the elevator. He leaned over to press a kiss to her cheek and winked at her. "Don't let such a good dress go to waste."

"Have a good night, Jasper," she replied, blushing at his compliment, like she always did even when they made her feel silly.

It really was a shame that he wanted more from her than she was willing to give. He was an amazing man in all aspects of his life, but she wasn't ready to settle down, especially for Jasper Jax, who only wanted a trophy wife. He appreciated her dreams of art enough, but saw it as nothing more than a hobby, and that had been what really broke their relationship. Not to mention he couldn't handle Jason and Johnny's role in her life and often called her overdramatic when she got upset about it.

She needed someone who didn't think she was silly and overdramatic or at least accepted that those were her qualities and never threw it in her face.

Sighing, she made her way down the stairs that led to the restaurant, her stomach tightening with nerves, like they had weeks ago when Johnny had returned. She was stepping into unknown territory, where not one person was against her, but possibly three. Only Elizabeth could manage to piss off each of the people in her life in just one day.

Lulu wouldn't be an easy fix. She had thrown her relationship with Johnny into the blonde's face, knowing that he had failed to let his fiancé in on their history, just because Elizabeth was desperate to hurt her. And even though it had felt good, _really, really good_, she knew it was wrong, and she hated herself for caring about that stupid girl. She imagined the woman had gone straight to Johnny with tear-filled eyes, attacking him for his lies, and while that briefly made Elizabeth feel good, she still felt guilty, and it just wasn't fair.

Johnny had been the jerk among all of this, and Lulu was his puppet just helping things right along. They deserved to crash and burn, or at least skid along painfully for a while.

She frowned when she looked around the restaurant and didn't see either of them in sight. Lulu was usually easy to spot, always dressed in something bright and summery that nearly caused Elizabeth to hurl every time she saw her.

_The sacrifices she made for her friends. _

Maybe Johnny was more upset than she imagined, or worse, he hadn't been able to talk Lulu down, resulting in some God awful fight, and well…_That wouldn't necessarily be so bad_.

Johnny would forgive her. She'd done worse things to him. He would just seethe and whine, make an asshole wise crack or two and get over it. It wasn't like he didn't deserve a little bit of drama after that awful Jason Quartermaine comment he'd made. If hurting Lulu was the only way to get back at him, then so be it. She was _not_ going to feel bad, not even a little bit.

"May I help you, Ms. Webber?"

"Uh, yes," she said, tipping her head in direction of the hostess. She often forgot that much of the staff knew who she was, mostly because she tried not to think about it or she'd start wondering just _what_ exactly they knew about her. "Do you know if Jason Mor-" She stopped when she saw Jason taking a seat at the bar with Johnny, a half-filled glass of whiskey in his hand. "Actually, I see them now. Thank you."

She took a deep breath and started down the steps that led into the restaurant, watching as Johnny waved to the bartender and made some comment that caused Jason to roll his eyes. Ritchie had _almost_ come through for her. She didn't see Lulu, which was either a good or bad thing considering how she looked at it. At least, the man wouldn't expect sex the next time they were alone.

He had, however, gotten Jason into a suit, which Elizabeth couldn't help but appreciate. The way the material fit snugly over his shoulders, the sleek lines showing him off in a way that any woman would admire. She'd place her entire bank account on the fact that nearly every woman in the restaurant had noticed him at some point.

Though he would never understand it, Jason had the perfect build and just the right kind of swagger for a suit. They always seemed tailored to fit him just right without having to be adjusted in any way. Most of the times, they would walk into a store, Elizabeth would pick up a suit, and it would just fit him. She would tell him it was a sign he should wear them more, and he would roll his eyes, muttering how jeans were more comfortable.

_Yes, the suit would definitely make this night easier on her. _

Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she adjusted the top of her dress one last time as she began to stride towards the two men, her head held high and every ounce of confidence she had inside of her on the line.

As if sensing she was there, Jason's head suddenly tipped in her direction and his eyes widened as he looked her over. He lowered his drink to the bar, turning around so that he was facing her. Elizabeth's confidence shook just a bit, but she shoved her nerves aside, putting on a wry smile as she stepped up to the bar, sliding her arm over the back of his stool.

"Hey there," she murmured huskily, stepping between his legs and grabbing him by the front of his white buttoned-down shirt as she pulled his mouth to hers.

The second their lips met, Jason stiffened, and she sucked in a shaky breath, but thankfully she managed to take control. She raked her fingers through the back of his hair, her other hand fisted in his shirt as she nipped gently at his lower lip, forcing it to part so she could slip her tongue inside.

He still smelled like leather and soap, but yet the familiarity of it seemed to cease. It was like she closer to it, inside of it, and even enthralled by it, and she wondered why she never realized it was _this good_ until now. Any nerves were now replaced by a fire, one that she couldn't replace, and she tried reminding herself of how long it had been since she'd let a man take her to bed. That had to be the only explanation.

She lost all sense of time and control; forgetting they were in the middle of a restaurant, that Johnny was sitting beside her, and that it wasn't supposed to last this long, but she couldn't think of anything else except the heat from his mouth and how his tongue felt as it slid around hers. She was vaguely aware of his hand on the small of her back while the other cupped her cheek, his thumb stroking her skin.

When they finally parted, it felt like slow motion as if neither of them wanted to be the one to end it, and she missed the touch of his lips immediately. She was panting softly, her hand still twisted in his shirt. Her lashes parted to find him looking at her, and she knew the desire reflected in his dark, cerulean eyes only mirrored her own.

Yes, there would surely be complications.

"I mean, what the hell am I supposed to do, Jason?" Johnny asked, holding a hand to his chest as they stood on the terrace of the MetroCourt restaurant. "I apologized and tried to explain why Elizabeth would say such a thing-"

"I assume you told Lulu it was because it was the truth," he interrupted, stirring his whiskey around with his finger and wiping his hand off on his suit jacket.

Had Elizabeth seen him do such a thing to an overpriced designer suit, she'd have reamed him for weeks, but thankfully she wasn't around yet, leaving him free to dislike his attire as much as he wanted. Even after popping several buttons, the collar was still overly stiff against his neck and the jacket was causing him to sweat so much that he had to keep pressing a napkin to his forehead.

After Ritchie called, pitching some fit about how Elizabeth was upset and demanding that Jason take her out for a night on the town to make it up to her, he felt obligated. Even though it had been unknowingly, he had hurt her, and he'd rather she make the demands for an apology than for him to have to scramble around and try to do it on his own.

That was why he had put on the suit.

That was why he had come to this overpriced shithole.

That was why he had decided to drink profusely so he could enjoy himself.

Only to find out, after running into Johnny, that it was a set up of sorts. Lulu had refused to come, saying she had a headache, which Jason knew translated into her being completely livid with her fiancé. He still didn't understand why O'Brien had come, though he had a feeling it was just to confront Elizabeth about what she'd done.

"You're not even listening," Johnny whined, finishing off his drink and heading for the doors that lead into the restaurant.

"You fucked up," Jason said, following after him. "You should have let Lulu in on your history with Elizabeth before bringing her to town. And regardless of whether or not you regret what happened, it did, and you have to deal with it."

"Did she have to make it sound like I lied?" he asked, stopping in the middle of the restaurant and glaring at him.

He arched an eyebrow at his friend and shook his head. "You did lie, and it wasn't the most tactful way to get her point across, but you pissed Elizabeth off. You know how she is."

"That's no excuse," O'Brien muttered, turning away and heading for the bar.

Jason followed after him, unsure as to why, but knew he had to coddle his friend or else things would get really ugly. Johnny was like a child, and when he was told something he didn't like, he shut down completely.

"You're both just alike," Jason muttered, sliding into a seat at the bar and taking another sip of his whiskey.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked, lifting his hand and waving it to the bartender, who was at the other end.

"You both want things so bad that you're willing to do whatever it takes, but neither of you wants to be the bad person in it all," he replied, knowing that was why Elizabeth wanted to make up with Johnny and Lulu. Sure, she wanted their relationship to be over, but didn't want to knowingly be the cause that ended it.

And sometimes Jason wondered if Johnny would have still found a way to leave town after what happened with Elizabeth. In that fleeting moment, O'Brien may have wanted her, but Jason knew him, and once Johnny cleared his head, he would have freaked out. He was used to unattached women that he could take to bed at night and dump in the morning, and that would have never happened with Elizabeth.

"She hates Lulu, so she thinks she can run her off," he hissed, shifting in his seat. "I don't understand why you aren't upset by all of this."

"What?" he asked, swirling his drink around in his hand.

"Look, I'm just saying if I was you-"

"You're not."

"Exactly, but if I was and my girlfriend was all jealous over my best friend's fiancé-"

"She's your best friend too," he cut in, rolling his eyes and slumping over the bar.

Thankfully the bartender came over, making Johnny focus on something more interesting, like alcohol. His friend needed to realize that he was anything but jealous.

Jason was getting tired of being in between the two of them and their antics when the situation was clearly black and white. Johnny was marrying Lulu, and yes, Elizabeth was jealous, but she couldn't change that. He didn't love her the way she wanted him to, and Jason was starting to wonder if she even wanted O'Brien to love her, or if this wasn't some manipulated territorial issue.

It had always been the three of them and when it wasn't, it was Elizabeth and Johnny, and now, Elizabeth and Jason, and he just didn't understand why she couldn't be content with that. It was just how things were, how they were supposed to be, and how they had forced them to be.

Unfortunately, like it or not, one day it was going to be more than just the three of them. Jason didn't mind Lulu. She was nice and she made Johnny happy, even if she was a little overbearing. Elizabeth's choice in men could leave something to be desired for, but he knew that she'd never really settle down with someone unless he had Johnny and Jason's approval, so he didn't worry much about her. And as for himself, he was fine all by his lonesome. He had his routines, his friend, and a career that kept him busy enough.

Women, as proved by Elizabeth, only complicated things.

"Thanks," Jason muttered, taking a fresh drink from the bartender as he checked the clock above the bar.

It wasn't like Elizabeth to be on time, but it wasn't like her to be nearly forty-five minutes late either. Sighing, he shot a look at O'Brien who was still pouting, and then glanced over his shoulder to see Elizabeth heading in their direction. Her face filled with shock as their eyes met, but she quickly covered it up with a grin and slid her hand over her hip as she made her way over to the bar.

He couldn't help it as his eyes traveled from her face to her tiny waist, where the material cinched in, showing off her perfect hour glass figure. The dress flowed out from her waist, and he nearly missed the slits at the sides, displaying her creamy toned thighs. He figured she wouldn't mind the looks – seeing as a dress like that required such – and he allowed himself to take in her legs in all their glory, all the way down to the sexy stilettos that wrapped around her feet.

They were the kind of shoes that made men groan.

Her arm slid over the back of his stool, her hand splaying out between his shoulder blades to finger the collar of his shirt as she stepped between his legs. Her voice was low and husky, a tone he'd never heard from her before as she murmured hello, and fisted her hand in his shirt, jerking him forward and crushing her mouth over his.

He bucked briefly, mostly because he was caught off guard, but then her teeth raked over his lips, teasing him and tugging his mouth open. Her tongue swiped over where she'd bit him, before finding its way into her mouth, and suddenly it was like nothing else existed.

His hand was against the small of her back, pressing her hips as close to his as he could get them, and she raked her fingers through the ends of his hair, letting him know that it was okay. He felt the need to touch, to just feel her skin, and he lifted his hand to her face, cupping her velvety skin in his palm, wondering if there was anything softer than this.

She tasted sweet, just like one would imagine, and he knew that one taste, one swirl of their tongues would never be enough – _was there even such a thing?_ She smelled like fruit, the scent of vanilla and strawberries wrapped around him, consuming him completely, and he couldn't believe he had never noticed it until now.

He told himself this wasn't happening, that this was some kind of fluke, and that Elizabeth wasn't in his arms, and that their lives and history and time, all things of great importance no longer mattered. He wanted to hang on as long as she would allow, but it felt over from the second it began, and whether she pulled away or he did, he would never know. Her hand was still gripping his shirt as her soft lashes parted and her hazy eyes found his.

Yeah, so much for things being black and white.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"Stop looking at me like that," Elizabeth hissed, drumming her shaky fingers against the white tablecloth as she glared at Jason.

"You started it," he replied, smirking as he lifted his whiskey to his mouth. She found herself taking in the way his lips touched the glass, and immediately replaced it with thoughts of shoving the glass in his face.

Yes, that was a _much_ better image.

"Now, you're staring at me," he muttered, setting his glass back on the table and looking across the restaurant to where Johnny was talking to Lulu near the elevators.

Elizabeth followed his gaze, frowning slightly when she saw the blonde still giving him hell. She'd shown up not long after they had sat, asking to speak to him, and completely ignored Elizabeth's presence. She really did want to apologize to the stupid woman for her comments, but Lulu was going to make it difficult, just like she did everything else.

Smoothing things over with Johnny had been harder than she thought, and he was so quiet at the table, though she liked to think the kiss was partly to blame. It was nice to see him go off kilter, to see the shock in his eyes as she turned around after laying one on Jason, trying to pretend that she wasn't as taken back as he was.

Jason wasn't helping matters. He kept grinning at her like a loon and making comments with his eyes, and she just had no idea what he was thinking, and she wasn't sure she wanted to.

"Stop," she said, wrapping her hand around the untouched base of her wine glass, annoyed that he was pounding back the liquor, and she couldn't even bring herself to pick up the glass.

He shifted beside her, sliding his chair closer to hers and slumping over beside her. "What the hell is going on, Elizabeth?"

Swallowing hard, she lifted her eyes to his, remembering all too well how it felt to have his lips against hers and his hand pawing the small of her back. "I thought…I thought if Lulu saw us together, Johnny too, that maybe…"

"Maybe what?" he asked, his tongue snaking out to lick his lips, and she found it hard to focus on anything else. "Elizabeth?"

"Just that…I don't know…There was nothing to worry about," she muttered, as his lips twitched with amusement, and she really just wanted to…

"There's plenty to worry about," he said, his voice low and smooth, and he wasn't talking about Johnny.

_She hated him. _

He was doing this on purpose, trying to get a rise out of her, and she refused to let it work. "Well, you…You let Johnny think we're together."

"So did you," he murmured, sliding his hand over the back of her chair and leaning in close enough for her to smell him.

She couldn't get over how it was all man, rough, but sweet and she wanted to wrap herself up in the scent and hide away.

_If only she didn't hate him so damn much. _

"I was shocked…And drunk…I didn't exactly put it together as soon as he said it," she said, unable to pull her eyes away from his. He shifted again so that his hand grazed her shoulder and she replaced any feeling of tingles with complete annoyance. "And I don't understand why you didn't correct him in the first place."

He cracked a smile, his eyes glazing over, and she knew it was time to cut him off. "You liked it…_The idea, the possibility._"

"You're drunk," she grunted, ignoring how his fingertips brushed over her shoulders. "And you're the one that didn't correct him on the first go around, so maybe you like it…_The idea, the possibility._"

"Or maybe you want me to," he replied, sitting up straight as he spread his hand out over her shoulder. "But you're not my type."

"I apologize for coming late," Lulu said, smoothing her napkin over her lap as she looked across the table at Jason, clearly still ignoring Elizabeth. "I really did have a headache…Long day and all."

"Glad you're feeling better," he murmured, biting back a groan as Elizabeth's heel sunk into his shin. Clearly, he had misunderstood and wasn't allowed to speak to Lulu, even though Elizabeth wanted to fix this. He gripped his drink and tipped his head in her direction. "Feeling okay, _sweetheart?" _

Her face flushed at his words, and she shifted uneasily in her chair. "Just fine," she said, still holding her untouched wine. "You must be too. You have such a whiskey glow going on."

"And just what are you trying to imply?" he asked teasingly, pointedly finishing off his glass of whiskey and setting it back on the table.

"Perhaps, you should slow down a bit," she replied, resting her chin in her hand and raising her eyebrows at him. "Maybe take a hint from Johnny."

"I'm sure you'd like that," he muttered, rolling his eyes and sitting back in his seat. Her jaw ticked, but she forced as smile, trying to hide her annoyance. "I'm surprised you aren't throwing them back too, that's usually your thing."

Her eyes flickered with anger, and he almost thought he'd gone too far, but she quickly masked her annoyance with a grin and leaned forward, sliding her hand over his thigh. Her fingers splayed out, squeezing him tenderly as she looked him in the eye, a devious smirk on her face.

_He hated her. _

For starting all of this, for stepping off that damn elevator in that damn dress and wrapping her mouth around his.

Her touch was so gentle as her hand moved over his thigh, and even through his pants he could feel how soft her hand was, and he just couldn't stop himself from thinking about-

"Ow," he cried, when she pinched him, patting his leg before straightening back up.

She turned back to Lulu and Johnny, reaching for her wine glass. "Sometimes I have to get him back in line," she said, grinning as she brought the glass to her lips.

Despite the fact that he was now pissed off at her, he couldn't help but watch how delicately her lips wrapped around the glass and how her mouth gently rolled the dark liquid around tongue before swallowing.

"I think I'm going to get another drink," Johnny said, scooting his chair out and glancing at Lulu. "Jason, you want another – or are you cut off?"

He arched an eyebrow, but before he could reply, Elizabeth leaned over and her hand was in his lap again. "I think he's good," she purred, sliding her other hand over his shoulders, stopping to tug the hair at the nape of his neck. "If he has too much he won't be able to spin me around the dance floor later."

Only dancing could ruin the heat that shot through him at her touch. "I don't think so," he said, gripping her hands and pushing them away.

"Aw, but Jason, you know how much I love to dance," she teased, a wide grin spreading across her face. She licked her lower lip and puffed it out, her eyes softening, and all he could think about was how over an hour ago, he'd been sucking on that very spot and-

"I'm going to get another drink," he muttered, getting up from his chair in a hurry, and ignoring Elizabeth's snicker as he headed for the bar.

"Don't worry, I got you one anyway," Johnny laughed, as he approached, holding out a fresh whiskey and a napkin. "Looking a little hot under the collar."

Jason glared at him as he swiped the napkin over his forehead, knowing that Elizabeth knew exactly what she was doing.

"I never knew she was so big on public displays of affection," he muttered, still laughing as Jason continued to pat his forehead.

"Neither did I," he said, heat washing over him as he just thought about what had happened earlier.

Johnny sighed, taking a sip of his drink as he looked at his friend. "I'll be honest…This whole thing between you two is kind of awkward." Jason just looked at him, finding it impossible for O'Brien to feel any more uncomfortable than he did. "Seeing you together…It's weird, it's like ten years ago or something…Minus the makeout because Jason Quatermaine-" He stopped when Jason stiffened at the name and quickly tried to cover his tracks. "I'm just saying…I don't think I've ever seen either one of you kiss anyone like that…And yeah, well, she never kissed me like that – and it's-"

"It's fine," Jason interrupted, holding up his hand and waving it back and forth. "Let's not go there."

"Good idea," he replied, raising his glass and letting out a heavy sigh.

Jason did the same, finding it hard not to wonder why exactly Johnny was so flustered by it all.

"So…" Elizabeth shrugged, watching Jason from across the restaurant, and hating him even more for not realizing that he'd left her alone with Lulu.

_Damn him and his drunken stupor. _

"An apology isn't necessary," Lulu said, sipping her water as she looked at Elizabeth for the first time since sitting down. "I'm sure you were upset that Johnny came back to town without ever clearing things up, and you seem very taken with Jason, so…"

"I should have been more tactful," she replied slowly, annoyed that she couldn't even give her the chance to apologize, but just bucked it immediately. Granted, her thinking was right on part, just what Elizabeth wanted her to think, but did she have to be so damn perfect all the time?

"I won't argue with you there," she muttered, straightening her silverware as she continued to look at her. "It's just that…When I met John, I knew that something had happened between the two of you, but he always denied it…He said it was nothing, so I believed him."

_Nothing. _

Lulu knew the truth before she did, and for some reason that just infuriated her even more. Had he told her he was just a Jason Quartermaine stand in too?

"I was more upset that he lied to me. It wasn't really about you, and I understand why he did. He didn't want me to feel awkward, but that doesn't make what he did to you okay, and I-"

"Everything okay?" Jason cut in, stepping up to the table, looking at Elizabeth with glassy eyes.

She nodded, relieved that he'd come over before she managed to put her foot in her mouth again. Lulu just seemed to have an uncanny ability to make her do that, which wasn't her fault at all.

"So," he said, sliding his hand over the back of her chair and leaning over so that his lips were against her ear, "how about that dance?"

She shivered at the heat that came from his mouth, paying no attention as he took her hand and pulled her up from her chair.

"You didn't look happy sitting there," he murmured, gently cupping his hand around her elbow and steering her towards the dance floor.

"I wasn't," she admitted, not believing that he was actually going to dance with her.

Jason _never_ danced.

Or wore suits.

Or combed his hair so that it looked halfway decent.

"It's because you didn't have my company," he said, sliding his hand down her arm to waist and pulling her against him.

"You're so full of shit," she replied, rolling her eyes as she placed one hand on his shoulder, taking his hand in the other.

"You like shit," he muttered firmly, challenging her to say differently, and she just rolled her eyes again. "Just look at the ones who came before me."

"Jason," she sighed, arching her back against his palm as he fingers splayed out at her waist.

"I'm just putting on a show," he said, smoothing his thumb over the top of her hand. "Just like you want."

She swallowed hard, once again telling herself to mistake the tingles for something else, like that bad feeling that came when your leg fell asleep. "It's not a game."

"Then what is it?" he challenged again, nuzzling his cheek against the side of her face.

She lifted her eyes to his, not surprised to find a familiarity there that she once missed. "You tell me."

Jason could tell her a lot of things, ninety percent of which would get him smacked in the face, so he didn't say anything.

"So it is?" she asked, swaying her hips back and forth.

He was surprised that he could actually keep up considering all the liquor he'd consumed. He hadn't even stumbled a bit, and it wasn't that he had missed it because Elizabeth would call him out on it without thinking twice.

"What?" he asked, letting go of her hand to slide it around her waist to hold pull her closer.

"A game," she replied, gripping his lapels as she swayed her hips from side to side, smirking as her hips nestled against his own.

"I don't think it's going to get you anywhere," he said, arching an eyebrow at her. "Well, not anywhere you want to be."

"But you're hoping it gets you somewhere, right?" she asked, raising her own eyebrow in return.

He grunted, tipping his head to the side. "I already told you once, Webber. You're not my type."

She laughed softly, like it was just for him, her eyes lighting up. "I forget that I'm not a bleached blonde bimbo you picked up at the bar."

"If you want to get technical, you picked me up," he corrected, grabbing her hand and surprising her as he spun her around, and pulled her back against him.

"Does that mean I have to pay your bar tab?" she asked, laughing again, and he'd forgotten how good it felt to just see her happy.

"Depends," he murmured, in a low voice as his lips brushed over her ears. She tensed against him, and he couldn't help but enjoy it. "Are you going to pay for the hotel room?"

Her hips stopped mid-sway and her hands loosened on his lapels. Seconds later, she lifted her eyes to his and he wasn't surprised to see the comeback in her eyes, ready before she even opened her mouth. "I don't have to pay. I can get rooms here for free, so pick your floor."

_He really did hate her. _

It was like Elizabeth to act flirty and forward with other men, but never with him, and it wasn't fair that she was dangling the package in his face, knowing all the while he'd never get to open it.

Not that he wanted to because that was just a mess he wasn't willing to take on, but that didn't mean he couldn't have fun with it.

"Why not right here?" he asked, sliding his hand up her back to wrap it gently around her neck, not bothering to brush her curls aside. Her hair was silky beneath his hand and tickled his palm.

"Well, if that's what-" She stopped as the music ended, sliding her hands down his arms to pull him off of her. "Thank you for the dance, _sweetheart_."

"Stop looking at me like that," Jason hissed, twirling his fork around in his hand before dropping it on his half-eaten plate of food.

"You started it," she replied, her annoyance growing as he continued to trace circles on her shoulder with his fingertips.

He, however, was very much enjoying it.

Not because her skin was smooth as silk and he just couldn't stop himself from touching her, but also because he liked watching her tick. Liked how the annoyance started at her feet, where she crossed her ankles, one foot always jerking back and forth as it spread upwards to the stiffness of her back and her clenched fists at her sides. Her mouth was his favorite, her tight-lipped frown that sometimes twitched into a smile when he tossed the right come on her way.

"You are such a jerk," she muttered, rolling her eyes as she looked over at him.

"You're just indecisive," he shrugged, tossing his napkin on his plate and dropping his hand to the back of her chair. She immediately relaxed, the tension poured from her shoulders and her hands unclenched. And he could guarantee if he leaned back in his chair and looked beneath the table, her feet would be uncrossed and still.

Maybe he liked it so much because he was surprised he could rile her up this much, but then again, he'd never really tried before.

"No dessert," she said, snatching the menu out of his hand as soon as he picked it up.

"You didn't even give me the chance to feed you," he muttered, frowning at her.

"Pay the bill," she growled, looking across the restaurant to where Johnny and Lulu were talking next to the elevators.

They'd barely spoken all night, and Jason knew it was because he was still upset over what had happened, but he couldn't change Johnny's mind anymore than Elizabeth could. She swallowed hard and glanced at him impatiently, and he realized he didn't like the way she was looking at him. Maybe it was the booze or the afterglow of built up sexual tension, not any that she brought on, just the need that came with…

_Oh, hell, who was he kidding anymore? _

Had it been any other woman giving him the kind of soft eyes that said she was thinking about him in anything but a suit, he would have pounced. He'd probably already have a hotel room and the deed would be done, and he'd be back to drinking with Johnny at the bar, but this was…_Very different._

"What's wrong?" he asked, touching her shoulder again.

"Just Lulu," she replied, furrowing her brow as she watched them.

"She upset you," he said, not giving her a chance to deny it.

"Not really," she murmured anyway, pulling her lip back and forth between her teeth. "I just…She knew…You know, before me…She knew that I meant nothing…"

"Elizabeth," he sighed, lifting his hand to her face and tucking her hair behind her ear.

"He told me…He said he was never anything more than a Jason-a Jason Quartermaine stand in," she whispered softly, still chewing her lip. It quivered slightly, but she quickly regained her composure, shrugging it off. "Do you think that's true? That I just…" She shook her head, still watching them, her body jerking straight when Johnny's eyes landed on hers. He held her gaze briefly, almost looking apologetic, and Jason knew he felt bad for all of this, even if Elizabeth couldn't see it.

"I don't know what you feel," he replied seriously, noticing the way sadness, or maybe it was nostalgia, consumed her.

"You and me both," she muttered, still staring at Johnny, who was surprisingly looking back.

And suddenly, he just couldn't help himself anymore.

"Hey," he whispered, sliding his hand around her neck and pulling her in his direction. The second her head turned towards him, he placed his mouth over hers, forcefully parting her lips before she had the chance to realize what was going on. She melted against him as their tongues swirled together, and she slid her hands up his chest, pulling him as close as she could without climbing into his lap.

"Jason," she groaned, when he nipped her lip, her hands suddenly flat against his chest and pushing him away. "No…"

"I'm sorry," he said, sitting up as she scrambled to grab her purse from the table and get up from her chair. Her cheeks were flushed and her hands shaking. "Elizabeth, I didn't mean to…"

"I should go," she replied, shaking her head as she dug through her purse for her keys. She tossed a credit card down on the table. "Pay the bill…Get a cab home. You drank too much to drive, okay?"

"Yeah," he nodded, watching her stumble away from the table, rubbing her hand against her forehead.

"Son of a bitch," he muttered, grabbing her card and turning it around in his hand. Swearing again, he slid it into his pocket and pulled out his money clip. "Just a game, my ass."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Without Jason ever knowing it, Elizabeth had kept his hospital bracelet. She'd been there the day he was released from the accident, and she was the one who cut it off as they were standing at the nurse's hub, tucking it safely into her pocket, secretly holding onto the last piece of Jason Quartermaine that existed.

Now, sitting in her studio as she turned the bracelet around in her hands, she wondered why she'd held onto it, or rather, why she'd held onto anything. Like so many people who knew Jason Quartermaine, she buried him away, tucking him safely into the farthest corner of her heart, knowing that she'd never be given the chance to love him again.

She never once looked at Jason Morgan and saw the boy from her childhood. The doctors had prepared them for the worst, but that didn't stop her from holding vigil at his bedside, his hand in her's, and hoping Jason to come back to her. After a few months, even his family backed away, but she waited, telling herself that he had made a promise to always be _there_ and always be _with_ her. Just when her hope grew stilted, when she worried that she couldn't hold on for one more day, he opened his eyes.

From the very second he first looked at her with his deep, piercing, blue eyes, she knew Jason Quartermaine was gone, and in a way, so was she. The moment was forever seared onto her brain; the sound of the nurses in the hallways, the smell of the hospital room, and the way his hand smoothed over the sheet covering his chest as he asked who she was. Instead of crying or breaking down or becoming erratic, she'd swallowed her tears and softly told him that she was Jason Quartermaine's best friend and that he was gone. His eyes softened and his lips twitched into a heavy frown, gestures that had become all too familiar to her in the days since the accident, and he apologized for her loss.

It was only after she excused herself from the room, relieved that he hadn't asked why she was there, that she'd collapsed halfway down the hallway and cried, really mourning Jason Quartermaine for the first time.

Of course, his family flooded his room, telling him all kinds of things about how he was Jason Quartermaine, and he insisted that he had no recollection, and when Elizabeth finally slipped back into his room after the chaos had subsided, he asked why she didn't tell him who he was. She shrugged, curled up in the chair beside his bed and told him because he wasn't.

He was kind to her at first, and she imagined he just liked having someone to talk to, but he quickly took to Johnny over her, and she found herself on the outside, for once wondering if O'Brien ever felt that way around them. She was patient, understanding that he saw her the same way he did everyone else, and was just another person who was desperate for Jason Quartermaine to come back.

It'd be a lie if she said she hadn't thought about it, that for months after, maybe even the entire first year, she pined for him to the be boy he was before. Sometimes she felt guilty, knowing it was wrong to want him to be someone else, but she didn't know how not to.

Eventually, Jason warmed up to her, and she lost any desire to have Jason Quartermaine back. He was patient and kind, and over time, she learned that he would do anything for her, but it wasn't until their last year together, without Johnny as a buffer, that she truly believed it. Between him and Johnny, they had been there for her in every possible way, but Jason had been there simply because he was with Johnny, and now he was there because he wanted to be.

Sighing, she leaned forward on the frumpy couch that had been in her studio since she was a teenager and tossed the bracelet back into the large square box sitting on top of the coffee table. She placed the lid on it and pulled it down onto the floor to slide it safely back beneath the couch, the one spot she knew Jason and Johnny would never find it, but stopped when she saw the sleeve of a jacket sticking out.

Against her better judgment, she removed the lid yet again and grabbed the sleeve, carefully pulling the old _Port Charles High_ jacket into her lap. Jason had left it in her car the night before the accident, and she'd held onto it for months, soaking in his smell and the safety of having something that belonged to him. Gathering it in her hands, she buried her face in the material, missing the smell of his cologne and the safety that she used to find there. She'd tried to give it back to his parents, but his mother insisted that she keep it, that Jason would have wanted her to have it.

Monica had given her lots of things, countless items that she knew his mother wanted to hold onto, but wasn't sure if she could. Like his ratty, leather wallet that was so worn around the edges that he lost money more times than they could count, or his copy of _Gray's Anatomy_ that she'd read to him at his bedside.

Flipping through the book, she smiled softly at the notes he'd made in the margins, his handwriting like chicken scratch whereas now it was way more readable. She almost laughed aloud when she continued to flip through the pages, stopping on a diagram of the female body that Johnny had obviously taken a pen to. Even the post-it was still stuck between the pages, a note from Jason telling O'Brien to buy _Playboy_ and leave his shit alone.

She closed the book and gently placed it back into the box, her hands grazing over photographs and movie ticket stubs, stopping on a framed picture that Johnny had given her from prom night. She was seated on the hood of Jason's grandfather's Bentley, wearing a very gorgeous red dress, with Jason beside her in a neatly fitting tux. Nestled between them was a tiny flask that he'd probably slipped from AJ's stash. His arm was around her waist, resting at her hip, and his lips were against her ear, her mouth wide open as she laughed, one of her hands resting on his thigh. And in one of the corners was the blur of Johnny's thumb, the poor guy never capable of taking a decent photograph. She teased him so much about it that he'd given her the photo along with a note that said he'd finally gotten one right.

She let out a shaky breath and slid the lid back over the box, leaving the jacket nestled in her lap. She wondered how many other people kept Jason Quartermaine tucked safely away in a box with their lost dreams and faded memories. Sometimes she wondered if she was the only one and worried what Jason or Johnny would think if they ever found it. More so Jason, because she'd worked so hard to gain his trust and convince him that she wanted him in her life no matter who he was.

As odd as it may have sounded, that much was true. When Jason woke up from his accident, she buried any feelings as much as she possibly could, and she welcomed Jason Morgan. Maybe it started out as obligation or empathy, needing Jason in some form and feeling sorry that he basically woke up to nothing.

For all these years, everything had gone smoothly. She and Jason co-existed without her ever wanting or pining for him to be who he was before, and even in the last year, as they grew closer and closer, she never saw him.

_Until tonight. _

She and Jason had only danced a handful of times before, usually because Johnny was off trying to pick up some woman at the bar, and it took begging to get him out onto the floor. Tonight, he had offered, sure it was to cheer her up, but still he asked. And between the kisses and the flirting, something had changed, and it scared the living hell out of her. She never imagined that in pretending to want him and pretending to be attracted to him that she would find a familiarity she'd let go of,and suddenly it was like she was a teenager all over again.

It was hard not to look at him sometimes, seeking out traces of his personality or face that linked him to the past, and she found herself focusing more on all the ways that Jason Morgan was different. The little things were obvious; his neatness, the quiet, reserved attitude, and how he addressed nearly every situation in a calm manner. She had the ability to make Jason Quartermaine's head spin around with just the right phrase, and now, it was like he half-expected her shenanigans from the start, usually having a plan to clean them up before she realized they had blown up in her face.

He lived more dangerously; unafraid to say or do what he wanted, and he rode that damn motorcycle everywhere without a helmet. He hated suits and parties and drank to soothe that hatred, and he'd much rather be in a place like Jake's as opposed to the MetroCourt. In high school, they would barter their souls to get Jason Quartermaine to sneak inside, and he _hated_ pool, calling it the trashiest way to pass time.

She almost wondered if this was one big dream, a funny joke gone wrong, or someone trying to really get in a good laugh. What else could explain the drastic change to becoming everything he ever hated?

Yeah, there were good things too, like his incredible love for culture. He traveled more than anyone she ever knew, mostly when he'd first woken up from his accident. He expressed his need to get away, and Johnny's father loaned him the money, telling him he could work it off in the business once he returned. It was before Jason ever started to help Johnny run the business, and Elizabeth sometimes wondered if that was why he cared so much for it.

She appreciated his world knowledge and was fascinated that he could name every country in the world and a ton of facts to go along with it. Jason Quartermaine always boasted about having a photographic memory and how it was going to make medical school somewhat easier for him, and she never asked, but imagined it was something that had carried over.

It was difficult to miss him when she'd gotten someone just as amazing in return, but tonight she wondered if she had pushed their friendship too far. Her lips still tingled and her hands went clammy as she thought about his mouth against her's, and the way he looked at her…

She supposed she particularly liked men who were unavailable and could probably blame the accident for it. She took well to men who wanted more than she was willing to give and men who would never want her entirely. She thrived on their distance; emotionally, physically, and mentally, and with just one kiss, despite what either she or Jason thought it meant, she felt like she was being given everything she wanted. Or worse, she was projecting old feelings onto him, and it had meant nothing, but the look on his face…

_It had meant something. _

For the longest time, it was difficult enough to be around him and not think of Jason Quartermaine, let alone to find herself in a situation where she could actually _feel_ something for him that was so similar to the way she used to feel. It was all too complicated and confusing, and she just wanted to go back to pining after Johnny and forget this ever happened.

Or that she _allowed _this to happen.

In a way, despite it all, he was her constant, and she refused to risk that, especially for some poorly misconstrued evening. It had to be hormones, the need for sex, and not the fact that she wanted him because it really was just a ridiculous thought all around.

And it made her _miss_ him.

The comfort of Jason Quartermaine; his promise to be _there_ and to be _with_ her, and she supposed in a way he was. Maybe that was why Jason took her to her so well, why they got along and laughed and always had each other's backs.

Even though it was entirely too much to think about, she found herself wondering if, despite all that had happened, just maybe Jason Morgan and Jason Quartermaine _did_ have something in common; a soft spot for Elizabeth Webber.

Suddenly, her phone rang somewhere inside her purse, and she reached for the bag, dumping the contents out on the coffee table. Jason's name flashed brightly on the caller ID, and she contemplated answering it, but knew that in his drunken state, he would call repeatedly.

"Hello?" she answered quietly, sitting back against the couch, her hand smoothing over the stitched lettering on the front of the jacket.

He hesitated, his breathing heavy on the other end of the line. "I'm home."

"Did you-"

"I got a cab," he cut in, and she could hear the sound of his boots being kicked off onto the floor.

"Are you-"

"I'm fine," she interrupted, tracing his – _no, Jason Quartermaine's name, _continuously with her fingertip.

"Elizabeth," he said quietly, her name sounding so natural on his tongue, like it belonged there. "About tonight-"

"There's nothing to say," she replied, fisting the name on the jacket into her palm as if she could crumple it up and make it disappear. "I used you."

"Don't-"

"I did," she said firmly, refusing to let him argue with her. "I used you and I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

She closed the phone before he could reply and tossed it down onto the couch beside her. Burying her face in the worn out varsity jacket, she allowed herself to do something she hadn't done in years; mourn Jason Quartermaine all over again.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"Jason, will you relax?" Johnny asked, as the tailor walked away, muttering obscenities under his breath.

He cracked an eye open from where he was sitting in a leather chair, daring Johnny to continue nagging him. "He runs his hand up the inside of my leg one more time…"

"You want the tux to look good," he replied, rolling his eyes as he turned back to the mirror and looked himself over. "Or at least I do. I don't want you messing up my photos."

"Excuse me?" Jason asked, rubbing his forehead against his hand. He was _slightly_ hungover from the night before and thought that perhaps he'd heard his best friend wrong.

Since when did O'Brien give a damn about pictures? He couldn't be sure, but the last time he remembered his friend having his photo taken was when he was booked on assault charges after a fight at Jake's.

"I'd never hear the end of it from Lulu," he muttered, covering himself though Jason couldn't rightly believe him.

Whether O'Brien wanted to admit it or not, he was caught up in all the fuss of the wedding, and while Jason knew he was excited to be marrying Lulu, it was starting to get under his skin. All the chatter about catering and vows and making his fiancé happy had given him a taste of what Elizabeth was receiving and he didn't envy her.

He frowned as he thought about her, mostly because he had been trying to _not_ think about her all morning, but it was nearly impossible.

Knowing how Elizabeth was, how she craved being alone when she was upset despite the fact that she really wanted nothing more than to _not_ be alone, he'd decided against calling her that morning.

Even thought it had nearly killed him.

Jason had kissed a lot of women, _a whole hell of a lot, _and never before had they ran away, and he just didn't know what to think about that. He knew how to wine and dine the best and the most complicated, and he imagined that was partly why Elizabeth chose him to put on a show. If she wanted to attempt to make Johnny jealous she could have brought any man he knew, like Ritchie, who would have been enough to piss anyone off on sheer principle alone. Instead she chose Jason, and that had to mean something, or maybe he just wanted it to.

Damn her.

She had him mixed up beyond reasoning, and he wasn't sure if he'd ever get back to the way he used to be.

_Fuck. _

There really shouldn't even be a way he used to be; a Jason Morgan before being kissed by Elizabeth Webber and a Jason Morgan after.

No, that most definitely shouldn't exist at all.

"What's got your panties in a twist this morning, Morgan?" Johnny smirked, brushing his fingers over his lapels as he continued to check himself out in the mirror.

_Nothing. _

Because in order for him to have his panties in a twist, he would have to have something, and he certainly had nothing.

"Too much whiskey," he muttered, slinking down in the chair and resting his head on the back of it.

And too much Elizabeth, or not enough – it all depended on how he looked at it.

Or didn't, seeing as he shouldn't be looking at it at all.

_Fuck. _

He draped his arm over his face, needing the darkness. "Long night."

Johnny grunted. "Yeah, me too. Lulu's a handful once she gets all fired up."

Jason rolled his eyes against his elbow, partly out of jealousybecause after a night of parading an attractive woman around in a dress and letting her dry hump him on the dance floor, he had a right to be.

Or not, considering the woman was his best friend.

"Son of a bitch," he muttered, sitting up and rubbing his face in his hands.

Johnny held his hand up to the tailor who was making his way back over, tiny measuring tape in hand. "Could you get my friend a bottle of water?" he asked politely. "He's feeling a little under the weather."

The tailor turned on his heels and hurried back across the room, muttering under his breath. Jason would have felt bad had the man not tried to cop a feel.

"What's going on?" Johnny asked, looking at him skeptically. "This is not just a hangover. Jason Morgan doesn't get hangovers."

"Just a long night," he muttered, letting out a deep breath as his phone rang from where it was sitting on the end table next to the leather chair. He perked up, hoping it was Elizabeth, but frowned when he saw Ritchie's name on the caller ID.

He had no idea why he was waiting on her to call because he knew she wouldn't. She would sit and seethe or do whatever the hell it was she was doing, and then show up like nothing had happened, or worse, she would admit that something had and it just wasn't supposed to.

Did he even want it to?

She was annoying and pesky, always getting into things she wasn't supposed, usually _his_ things, and she always needed something. She slept in his clothes, ate his food, and left her shit everywhere.

But she also looked really good in a tight dress, and he imagined she looked even better underneath.

"You going to answer that?" Johnny asked, glaring at him as the tailor made it back over with the bottle of water.

"Jerk," he hissed, ignoring the call and leaning back in the chair. The tailor looked at him briefly as if Jason was calling him a name, but he didn't bother to correct the mistake.

His phone rang again, and he perked up briefly, even though he knew it was just Ritchie calling repeatedly, but it wasn't his fault.

Elizabeth was the one who had kissed him the way you kiss someone when you're taking them to bed, or you at least want to. She was the one who stormed out of the hotel restaurant leaving him with her credit card, and if he had enough guts he'd charge a bunch of porn or something to it. Instead, he was going to sit and seethe and think about what it all meant, mostly to her, because she was the one that mattered, the one with the control.

Oh, hell, what the fuck was he saying?

"Just give us a second," O'Brien muttered to the tailor, when he asked if he could finish sizing Jason up. The man happily obliged, shooting Jason a dirty look before he walked away. "Dude, what the hell is going on? Did you and Elizabeth have a fight or something? 'Cause you two seem to have more bad shit going-"

"It's nothing," he interrupted, getting up from the chair.

"Yeah, sure," he grunted, checking himself out in the mirror yet again, making Jason want to slap him. "Just fix it by tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow night?" he asked, wondering if Elizabeth had managed to schedule yet another unplanned date for their unplanned relationship.

_Fuck. _

It was not a date.

They were not in a relationship.

"What the hell is going on tomorrow?" he asked angrily, shaking his head.

"Lulu is throwing Elizabeth that surprise party," he reminded him, taking a deep breath. "I called and told you about this a week ago. She wants to thank her for being so great with the wedding stuff-"

"Great?" he interjected, nearly laughing.

"Okay, patient, and helpful or something," Johnny replied, clearly agreeing with Jason. "She wants to do something nice, especially since her art opening is in a few days. Get everyone together, pay homage to Elizabeth-"

"The person who hates her," he muttered, unable to help himself.

Johnny glared briefly, but bit his tongue. "It's at Jake's, seven o'clock. and I assume you'll be there."

He lifted his eyes to O'Brien's, snarling as the tailor approached him, his measuring tape in hand. "Yeah," he grunted, figuring that if he was going to face Elizabeth booze might as well be involved.

"So, what do you think?" Lulu asked happily, clasping her hands as her eyes swept over Elizabeth.

"It's…" Her voice trailed off and she jerked as the seamstress, some overpriced woman who worked for Kate Howard, jabbed a needle into her hip. "It's something."

"I figured since everything else is so low key wedding wise, you and I should pop," she exclaimed, reaching out to smooth her hand over one of the feather's on Elizabeth's shoulder.

Yes, _feathers_.

Like from a bird.

"Especially seeing as we have the best dates," she continued, looking very satisfied as she brushed her fingertips over various parts of the fabric.

Supposedly, Lulu had told Elizabeth about the fitting days ago, but she must have missed it amidst all her jealousy and resentment.

So when the blonde showed up on her doorstep at eight that morning, her seamstress in tow, Elizabeth was anything but pleased. She'd fallen asleep at her studio and woken up around four in the morning. Disgusted by her moment of nostalgia, she quickly shoved her memories back into the box and slid it under her couch, and hurried home.

She was embarrassed enough to have kept the mementos, and she would have been more embarrassed if anyone ever discovered them. In a way, Jason Quartermaine was _her_ secret and always had been. That didn't need to change now.

"Are you alright?" Lulu asked, frowning heavily. "Is it the dress? Oh you just hate it, don't you?"

Elizabeth's lips twitched with the urgency to speak the truth, but she just timidly shook her head, trying to keep her eyes from lifting to the mirror across the room.

Sadly, her eyes won.

She bit her cheeks, sank her teeth into them so hard that she tasted blood and her eyes filled with tears.

_What. The. Fuck. _

Just when she thought her life couldn't get any worse; when she couldn't believe she kissed her best friend and _liked_ it, or that her other best friend who she thought – _no_, that she loved came back to town with Princess Purity, she was now standing in her living room wearing the ugliest dress known to man.

_What. The. Fuck. _

"Um…" she muttered, still biting her cheeks because she knew the second she stopped something bad would come out.

Something like how this was the ugliest fucking dress she had ever seen, and there was no way in hell that Elizabeth Webber would be caught dead wearing a hot pink bridesmaid gown with a matching hat that had fish netting hanging from it. There was also fish netting, or at least that's what she was calling it, on the end of the dress, which Lulu and the seamstress said just looked so fantastic with the feathers.

There were just _no_ words.

The material was tight in a really bad way. It didn't highlight curves or show off her very nice breasts, because if Elizabeth Webber had good anything, it was boobs. Not only had Johnny's fiancé taken him away from her, but she also took her boobs.

This was _bad_.

"Lulu…" she started, but hesitated, smoothing her hands over the front of her dress, looking for something good about it.

Kate, her ultra rich and glamorous godmother, not to mention fashion icon of the world had supposedly sent her five sketches for possible bridesmaid gowns. She'd also attached a note saying that she wouldn't make it to the wedding, but she wished her and her fiancé well, which Lulu felt she had to share with Elizabeth.

She found herself mildly curious as to why so few people in Lulu's life were coming to the wedding. She was leaving early next week to go to Europe and meet up with her mother to shop for the gown, and Elizabeth couldn't figure out why she wasn't really helping her daughter plan the big day. Not to mention that they were flying in a day before the ceremony and leaving a day after, leaving her to wonder just what the Spencers thought about Johnny O'Brien.

"Oh, if you hate it, we can try another," she said apprehensively, making it clear that for some ungodly reason she loved the dress.

It would be appropriate on a fashion runway in Europe, but never in the states, unless she was a fish or a bird with a soft spot for raging hot pink.

_God, she fucking hated Lulu Spencer. _

"What's wrong?" she pressed, tapping the seamstress on the shoulder and giving her a look that told her to get the hell out of the room.

Elizabeth would have been amused at seeing Lulu show the slight bit of annoyance or anger with anyone had she not hated her so much.

"I just had a long night," she said, watching the seamstress – she really needed to learn her name – disappear into her kitchen.

"Long night?" she asked, playfully arching an eyebrow. "Or another kind of long night?"

Elizabeth continued to stare at her reflection in the mirror, not wanting to really talk to Lulu of all people about what had happened.

She didn't even know what happened, except that aside from her minor breakdown last night, Jason had been the only thing on her mind. His mouth, his eyes, the way he smelled, and how heartbroken he'd looked when she walked away, but it was only because she had to. Technically, she had loved him once, and she wasn't about to do it all over again.

_Love? Ha. _

Elizabeth Webber had officially lost her mind if she ever thought it was possible to have feelings for Jason Morgan. Serious, real, life-changing, let's hop into bed and never look back kinds of feelings.

One, she didn't have feelings like that.

Two, he was her best friend.

And three, she was supposed to be breaking up Johnny's engagement or something.

"Oh, I just think I'm feeling a little sad is all," she managed, her cheeks sore from how hard she'd bit them. "The wedding, the boys, things changing."

Okay, so it wasn't technically a lie, but it was better than telling the truth.

"Elizabeth, one day you will have your own day just like this, and you'll get to stick me in a fabulous dress, and I'll watch you walk down the aisle," she grinned, her eyes lighting up at the idea.

Nothing about that was good, except the possibility of sticking Lulu Spencer in a horrifying gown, something off the clearance rack at _David's Bridal_, but thankfully she would never put her in her wedding party anyway.

Besides, it wasn't like she was ever going to get married.

"For a while, I worried about you," Lulu confessed dramatically, holding a hand to her chest. "John would talk about how you float from one man to the next, never really finding what you need or want, like you were lost and alone."

"You worried about me?" Elizabeth asked, gritting her teeth. "You're the one marrying the former man-whore of Port Charles?"

The blonde's face fell, just like she knew it would, and she didn't feel guilty. Not one single bit, especially when Lulu got quiet and sat down on the couch, wringing her hands.

"I didn't mean to offend you," she replied softly, smoothing her hands over her perfectly straight hair. "I just meant you seemed alone…Like you've been looking for something, and I was hoping, after seeing you with Jason – that maybe he was it."

Or she wanted to be assured that Elizabeth didn't want Johnny.

"You two seem to fit one another very well," she continued, praising Elizabeth's non-existent relationship. "And the way you look at one another…"

Glaring at her reflection, she hated herself more and more by the second. Instead of Johnny being jealous over her relationship, he seemed to enjoy it, maybe even thrived on it, probably getting some sick pleasure of seeing her pant the way she used to.

She was such an idiot, a very pissed off idiot.

"Well, I'm not alone, and I'm sure as hell not looking for anything. This is just how I like things to be," she replied seriously, tugging the stupid hat from the top of her head and tossing it onto the floor. "And this dress sucks."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Out of all the places Elizabeth imagined Lulu would ever take her, Jake's was at the bottom of the list. It was dirty and smelled like aged whiskey, and there were peanuts on the floor. Surely Lulu couldn't walk across the floor in her designer shoes and allow the bottom of her fancy, pressed skirts to touch a filthy stool. This was exactly why Elizabeth found herself stopping the blonde before she opened the door.

"Is something wrong?" Lulu asked, raising her eyebrows at her.

Elizabeth had never been more skeptical of the woman in that moment. Lulu wasn't overly secretive, but she was hiding something, and she just didn't know how to feel about that.

Even after she had insulted her dress, called her seamstress a stabbing whore, and told her she couldn't handle dealing with anything wedding related for the rest of the day, Lulu invited her for a girl's night out.

She imagined to Lulu such an evening meant getting nails done and drinking frothy, girly drinks while giggling over dirty things that weren't really dirty things. Maybe that was why when Lulu asked where she liked to go, Elizabeth instantly named the bar. Much to her surprise, the woman seemed overjoyed at the idea of going there, and her head filled with all the amusing possibilities.

"Maybe we should go to the MetroCourt," Elizabeth murmured, suddenly feeling guilty for picking this hole in the wall.

Granted, Lulu was the most annoying woman she'd ever met, and she'd love to see her reaction to a place like this, but she just couldn't do it. If Lulu could barely stand Johnny from the first time they met, then there was no way in hell she could take the come-ons and the winks, not to mention Coleman.

Oh, Coleman.

Actually he was worth the trip.

"I've heard about this place," Lulu said, giving her a smile. "John always talked about how you all came here to celebrate important moments in your lives, and well, you have your art opening tomorrow…You've also been so good with helping me, which I know hasn't been easy. I figured a good drink and night of relaxing is what you needed."

She almost replied with a story entailing exactly what a celebrating at Jake's entailed; sometimes a bar fight, sometimes dancing on tables with a shirt on, and almost always being carried out of the bar or having to carry one of the boys out.

But she had a feeling Lulu wouldn't _fully_ appreciate said moments.

"If you insist," she murmured, motioning for her to open the door and imagining what the first words out of Coleman's mouth would be.

Lulu was dressed like she always was; a designer pencil skirt and an over-starched blouse, her hair perfectly coifed in ringlet curls. Elizabeth felt drab standing next to her in a pair of snug jeans and a flimsy camisole, but she hadn't had the energy to really do much with herself. Besides, she knew that tight jeans and a head of messy curls were enough to get her a free drink or two at the bar.

"Good, let's have some fun," Lulu squeaked, opening the door and eagerly hurrying inside.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at her enthusiasm and followed her down the tiny hall that led to the bar, stopping in the doorway when she saw how packed the bar was. Her cheeks flushed when everyone started to hoop and holler in her direction, and her eyes quickly roamed over the faces of nearly everyone she knew; the men from the warehouse, her co-workers from the gallery where she worked downtown, Johnny, and Jason.

_Jason. _

She felt a lump in her throat the second she saw him leaning over the bar, his back towards her, and a beer in his hand. Tension consumed him, his tightly drawn shoulders and his bowed head letting her know that he'd rather be anywhere but here. Suddenly his head lifted, turning over his shoulder to meet her eye, and she wondered if he'd felt her looking at him.

"Elizabeth?" Lulu asked, poking her in the arm.

"Yeah," she murmured, reluctantly breaking Jason's gaze, and feeling terrible for how abrupt she'd been with him the night before.

"I hope this is okay. I wanted you to have a chance to celebrate your first opening, and…"

"No, it's fine," she replied, shaking her head, shifting her eyes back to Jason, who had turned back to the bar. "I, uh, I…." She forced a smile at the blonde and nodded towards the bar. "Let's get a drink."

_Or several. _

"Still haven't worked things out?" Johnny asked, shaking his head as he leaned against the bar and gave Jason a scolding glare.

"I came," he replied, finishing off his beer and waving the empty bottle at Coleman who was standing at the other end of the bar, no doubt flirting with Elizabeth and Lulu.

He shifted his eyes back to Johnny's before Elizabeth noticed him staring at her, not sure why he didn't want her to know he was. It wasn't like she wasn't looking at him from the corner of her eye every five minutes and pretending not to be when he looked back at her.

"I don't know what happened," O'Brien muttered, shrugging as he glanced down the bar at the women. "But I do know if you tell her she looks pretty and you buy her a drink, it's a start."

Jason rolled his eyes and slid money across the bar to Coleman as he held him out a fresh beer. There was no way in hell he was going to take Johnny's advice, especially when it was the damn asshole's fault that everything was this messy.

He just _had_ to come back to town with Lulu in tow.

Frowning, he took a sip of his beer and wondered if things would have been different had Johnny come home alone. Would he have still told Elizabeth it was a mistake? Or would he have just taken her to bed without thinking twice? And would Jason have really given a shit about anything that happened?

"Just buy her a drink and-"

"Drop it," Jason interrupted, watching her move throughout the bar in the mirror lining the wall.

She was holding a mixed drink in one hand, probably a Long Island Iced Tea, and a dark shot in the other. She drank those when she felt like she had to drink to be comfortable and a few of them usually did the job. The shot was most likely whiskey, and he could already see where this night was going.

"Tell her she looks pretty," he finished, cowering away before Jason could tell him to shut the fuck up.

She _did_ look good, but then again, when didn't she?

The thought passed through his head most days when he saw her, be it in wrinkled pajama bottoms or a pair of blue jeans, Elizabeth always looked good. He'd just never been in the position to appreciate it, and he assumed after how forcefully she kissed him and how hard she was trying to avoid him, he was definitely in that position now.

He raised his hand at Coleman when Ritchie approached her, his arm settling around her waist, and his hand not so subtly smoothed over her ass. Elizabeth leaned into him, nodding as he whispered into his ear and letting out a loud, lively laugh. She pulled away from him, shaking her head, and he knew that the man had most likely said something very dirty.

_The son of a bitch. _

Ritchie was officially fired.

Oh, seriously, what the fuck was wrong with him?

"What can I get for you now?" Coleman asked, leaning against the bar.

Suddenly Elizabeth caught his eye in the mirror, and she gave him a pained, crooked smile, and he immediately dropped his eyes to his barely touched beer. It was just too hard to look at her. "Get rid of this," he said, sliding the bottle over to the bartender. "Something harder, and keep it coming."

Elizabeth stationed herself next to the jukebox, trying to pull herself out of the chaos from the packed bar. She'd never seen so many people at Jake's before, and she was touched that Lulu had actually pulled the entire night together.

Granted, most of the people were probably there for the free booze and had no idea that the following evening she was publicly showing her artwork for the first time. She'd dropped her last painting off that afternoon, and her stomach had been churning ever since. It took every bit of fight inside her not to go to Jason's, knowing he was the one person who'd be able to get her to relax.

The one person she wanted to see and the asshole had yet to walk over and say hello to her. Sure, he was feeling awkward and out of place, just like she was, but it was a party in her honor, and it was rude not come at least acknowledge her.

Sneaking glances from the corner of his eye and acting as if he was annoyed when he caught her looking at him did _not_ count as acknowledgement.

"Why don't you just go over to him?" Lulu asked, appearing at her side with some girly drink clutched in her hand. She'd barely touched it and spent most of her time swirling the pink umbrella around in it.

Yes, an umbrella.

Like they were at the fucking beach.

Elizabeth thought Coleman was going to die on the spot the second Lulu asked for one of those frothy, umbrella drinks, and it'd taken him twenty minutes to find an unopened packaged stashed beneath the bar. They were dusty and old, but managed to bring a smile to the blonde's face.

"I don't know what I did," Elizabeth admitted quietly, which was only partly a lie. "He'll come around…" She swallowed hard, watching him toss back his third shot of whiskey, one more than she'd taken, and she knew she needed another if she was going to keep up.

"I bet it doesn't matter," Lulu murmured, taking a tiny sip of her drink and failing to hide her grimace.

If only she knew just how much tequila Coleman had poured into the blender. Elizabeth knew it was his way of paying her back for sending him on a search. He was a lazy bartender; a beer bottle opener and a shot pourer. Anything else pissed him off, and she only got by with her Long Island because the base was a pre-made bar mix.

"It _does_," she hissed, pushing her way past Lulu, knowing that she could never take back kissing him, or wanting him.

Or the simple thought that she didn't want to take any of it back.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped up to the bar, keeping several stools between her and Jason as she shouted for Coleman to pour her a couple shots.

Nothing like a little liquid courage.

"Don't you think you're both being ridiculous?" Johnny asked, motioning at Elizabeth, who sat several stool downs, sucking down shot after shot.

Jason long ago gave up on getting drunk, mostly because the hangover he suffered from the other night at the MetroCourt still haunted him.

And to silently answer O'Brien's question, it was _very_ ridiculous.

He wanted to find comfort in the possibility that she was just as screwed up from all this as he was, but he had no idea what she was feeling. The sound of her hanging up on him still rang in his ears, and it was clear that she just didn't want to talk about it, which would get them nowhere.

All this over a stupid fucking kiss, but a kiss was never just a kiss, and their's had hardly been stupid.

"She'll get over it," he muttered, rolling a peanut around in his palm before flicking it to the floor.

"It's kind of funny," O'Brien chuckled, setting his beer down on the bar and sliding it back and forth between his hands.

"What?"

"You and Elizabeth, you never talked – I mean, you did, but not _really_– and then I come back home, and you two are all buddy-buddy, but suddenly you're not talking again."

Jason arched an eyebrow as if to say, _maybe you're the fucking reason, you asshole,_ but he bit his tongue. "It's hilarious," he muttered, shifting on the stool.

"It's a good thing you two finally did start talking because after everything…" His voice trailed off and he shook his head. "I wondered if you two would ever get close again, and the other night, still, just really freaked me out."

"Why?" he asked flatly, feeling like he should humor Johnny for some reason.

He shrugged, narrowing his eyes intently at his beer. "It was like seeing…"

"Seeing what?" he demanded, _needing_ to know.

"Elizabeth and Jason Quart…." His voice trailed off again, and he didn't bother to finish it.

"Oh," Jason muttered quietly, that being the last answer he expected to hear.

They sat side by side in silence for a few minutes, neither of them sure how to break the tension that came from breaking the unspoken rule about Jason Quartermaine. Sometimes he wondered if forbidding anyone to talk about who he was before the accident did more damage than good.

"So, uh, do you two always fight like this? You know go from making out on dance floors to nothing?" Johnny asked, sipping his beer, and winking at Lulu as she slid onto a stool beside Elizabeth. He knew his friend was just trying to get back to the topic at hand, but it only pissed Jason off even further. "'Cause if you do, I hope the making up is-"

"None of your business," Jason interrupted, tensing up at the idea of O'Brien even referencing him and Elizabeth in bed together.

Sadly, it wasn't because they hadn't slept together.

Well, technically, they had plenty of times. He was used to Elizabeth crawling into bed with him when it stormed or she was drunk and needed to talk herself to sleep, and it had never been uncomfortable the next morning. It was almost natural to wake up with her curled beside him, his arm slung around her waist, and her face pressed into the crook of his arm.

Until now; until Jason Morgan post kissing Elizabeth Webber.

Because he wasn't sure he could have her crawling into bed with him without wanting her curled up beside him – preferably without clothes, his arm slung across her naked body, and her face against his pillow, just inches from his.

All thoughts he should _not_ be having about his best friend.

He was completely and totally fucked.

"Coleman," he growled, Johnny raising his eyebrows at his tone. "Shots, now."

"Men are jerks," Lulu muttered, though she couldn't sound further from believing the statement. Elizabeth almost wanted to thank her for such damnation though. "Seriously, you got all dressed up and the least he can do is tell you that you look nice."

"I'm not really dolled up," she said quietly, tapping her fingers against her overturned shot glass. She'd lost count as to how many she had and knew that once she stood up, it was all going to go to her head. "Just jeans and a t-shirt."

"Which he seems to like," she replied, nudging her with her arm as she continued to nurse the damn umbrella drink. "He's been watching you all night."

"Yeah," she murmured, knowing this and not needing to be told this, because the last thing she wanted to do was focus on how Jason was looking at her, but not looking at her.

_God, she hated him. _

She was half-tempted to stick him in the eye with the damn pink umbrella. No doubt he would talk to her then.

"Can I ask you something?" Lulu asked, taking another sip of her drink which, like everything else in the bar, annoyed the hell out of Elizabeth.

She kept thinking about grabbing the blonde by the back of her head and holding her backwards as she forced the drink down her throat, but that wouldn't be very nice, especially when none of this was her fault.

Or maybe it was, seeing as she had put the entire evening together, forcing Elizabeth to mix and mingle. As well as to get felt up by Ritchie over her stupid promise; he'd muttered something about already having a room for her upstairs, and she'd laughed and hurried off before she did something really stupid.

Like get so plastered she actually went upstairs. Yeah, that would really piss Jason off. Or would it? Or did she even want it to?

She was seriously fucked.

"What's your question?" she asked, when Lulu grew quiet as if she'd offended her.

"You and Jason," she replied, laughing to herself. "I mean, I know that you all were friends before the accident, but that's pretty much it. John doesn't talk about it much, and I was just curious as to how you and Jason found your way back to one another." She paused, twirling her umbrella in her glass. "You know, after Jason Quartermaine."

"Oh," she murmured, wondering how to answer the weighted question.

"You don't have to talk about it. John says it makes everyone really uncomfortable, and I don't want to upset you. I was just curious," she shrugged, taking an actual gulp of her drink. Elizabeth assumed it was just because she was nervous. "After all, it's sort of sweet and romantic in theory."

"Well, we don't talk about it much. Jason doesn't like to hear about him," she answered slowly, suddenly feeling unsure about discussing the topic. "I guess…Well, when Johnny left, I needed a friend, and I started to depend on Jason more."

"And before that?" Lulu asked, tipping her head and looking at her.

"We were friends, but not really. It was hard, especially for me because of Jason Quartermaine," she confessed, swallowing hard and blinking back tears. It was the first time she'd ever made such a confession aloud, and to think she was talking to Lulu of all people.

"I can't imagine how difficult that was," she said sincerely, surprising Elizabeth as she sucked the rest of her drink down.

So, she drank when she was nervous. Elizabeth would have to remember that.

"I mean, to lose someone like that, and then to what, walk into the hospital and have him not remember you," she continued, shaking her head as she closed the umbrella and pushed her glass away. "I'm not sure if I could handle it."

"I was, uh, I was there," she replied, feeling like she could correct Lulu's take on things.

"There?" she asked confused, craning her neck as she looked down the bar for Coleman.

Yeah, when Jason woke up," she said softly, taking a deep breath. "I was the person sitting beside his bed."

"And he looked at you and didn't remember?" she asked, a faint smile spreading across her lips, and Elizabeth almost felt offended.

"Not a thing," she replied, desperate for Coleman to make his way down to their end of the bar, really needing another shot or drink of some kind.

_Anything with liquor. _

Lulu grinned, her eyes turning glassy, which caught Elizabeth off guard. "I change my mind. It _is_ very sweet and romantic."

"What?" Elizabeth asked, clutching the shot glass in her fist, not exactly sure where she was going with this.

"The fact that you and Jason are together, that you found your way into some kind of beautiful romance after you lost who he was before. Yeah, he's not the same person, but still...," she answered, shaking her head as if she were mesmerized. "It's like something from a book or a movie – to have found love after everything, especially after being the very _first_ person Jason Morgan ever saw."


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

The _very_ first person Jason Morgan ever saw.

Elizabeth scowled at the statement, mostly because she was too drunk to really process it, though she imagined if she were sober it would only confuse her more, doing nothing to fix the problem at hand.

Sighing, she glanced over her shoulder to see Lulu and Johnny huddled next to the jukebox, the blonde clutching her third drink in her hand sans the umbrella. Apparently, once the initial drink was downed the floodgates opened.

Perhaps there was still hope for her, if she'd just give Elizabeth a little more leeway with corrupting her.

She shifted her eyes back to the mirror behind the bar, not surprised to catch Jason's eyes staring back at her. She couldn't remember the last time she'd spent so much time away from a man that she _wanted_ to be next to, and this hardly counted as flirtatious fun. Usually, she could flash a smile, maybe shimmy her hips, and whoever she wanted was at her side, only to be run off by Jason or Johnny, but that was beside the point.

"Okay, Webber," she muttered, pushing herself off her stool.

Oh, hell. She was _sloshed_. The realization sunk in as she stumbled just enough so that anyone who was looking at her would have noticed, but she would blame the fact that she was wearing the highest pair of pumps she owned.

Maybe Lulu was onto something with all those damn ballet flats.

Flustered, especially when she caught Jason looking at her from the corner of his eye, his face lit up with amusement, she bit back any crude retorts and made her way over. She'd dug a big enough hole at this point, and the last thing she needed to do was keep kicking dirt in his face.

His head tipped in her direction as she slid up beside him, one hand bracing herself on the bar. His eyebrows arched, clearly expecting her to have the first word, and she would have been annoyed at such had she not been too busy noticing just how blue his eyes really were.

"Uh, can I…get you…a drink?" she managed, her cheeks growing flushed as a slow smile spread across his face.

"You going to tell me I'm pretty too?" he asked curiously, rubbing his hand over his chin.

"Um, well…" She frowned, not sure exactly how to answer that.

Pretty wasn't a word that she would apply to Jason Morgan on a daily basis, but there was no way to deny that he was attractive. Most men couldn't pull of the brooding look without coming off as a jerk, but Jason had always settled into it nicely. Women flocked around at the drop of a hat, but Elizabeth also figured that had something to do with how little he talked, and the women he usually took to bed weren't interested in talking. Too bad for them because Jason sure did have lots of wonderful things to say, if only the whores knew just the kind of man they were rolling around in the sheets with.

"You okay?" he asked, when her face fell, the idea of Jason rolling around in the sheets with women from this very bar not sitting well with her.

"I need to sit," she replied, furrowing her brow as she unsteadily hoisted herself onto a stool.

He reached out to touch her, but she held out her hand, mostly because she just didn't know what she would do if he touched her. Normally, the drunk stumble was a great bit at getting an attractive man's attention because for some reason they were just so willing to help a woman in need. Or they thought they had a chance of getting laid.

Jason – well _her_ Jason – the one who was her best friend, was surely the first option, and maybe the latter when it came to every other woman but _her_.

Oh, wait a second.

Why hadn't he ever tried to sleep with her?

"Can we get a bottle of water?" Jason called out to Coleman, his eyes gentle and worried as they looked at her.

Was she not as good as the girls at Jake's?

"Why haven't you ever tried to sleep with me?" Elizabeth asked seriously, tipping her head back and looking at him.

"What?" he asked, waving Coleman away as he started to approach, clearly not wanting the bartender to hear anything she said.

"You and Johnny try to sleep with every other woman, but me," she shrugged, slurring her words as she rocked back on her stool. "I don't know why I'm not good enough."

"You're drunk," he muttered agitatedly, getting up from the stool and shaking his head.

He was frustrated or annoyed that she'd struck a chord, maybe even embarrassed, which was a rarity in itself. She liked watching him grow flushed, how the redness crept up from the base of his neck and over his cheeks.

Oh, hell. This was one for the record books.

Where was Johnny when she needed him?

She groaned, remembering he was across the room with Lulu, and that maybe she should be asking him the same damn question. Bracing herself against the bar, she slid off the stool, laughing as the room started to spin.

"I am a mess," she hissed, her mind wandering back and forth between the possibilities of her and Jason and her and Johnny.

But never together.

_Oh, ew. _

"I think I'm gonna hurl," she murmured, tensing up when she felt Jason's hand resting against her, his fingers splayed against the small of her back. She fought the urge to lean against his touch, pulling herself closer to the bar instead. "How did this happen?"

"You drank too much," he said softly, his lips too close to her ear.

She couldn't help but shiver. "Yeah, because I thought you would talk to me if I got drunk and stupid…"

"So this is my fault?"

"Or maybe I thought if you got drunk and stupid, you'd talk to me…"

"Oh," he murmured surprised, "so it's your fault?"

"Or maybe it's Johnny's for being all stupid and lovey with that tramp – well, she's not a tramp. She's actually very nice, which makes it impossible to hate her, and I really want to hate her. I mean, I have to after everything…" She moaned loudly, leaning against the bar, one hand on her head. "Why is it that when you stand up the liquor just bursts through your body and you suddenly can't remember your name?"

He laughed quietly, that private Jason Morgan snicker that so few people heard, and she would have pummeled him, or at least tried to, had it not sounded so damn adorable.

"I hate you," she muttered, pressing her face into her palm as she swayed back on her feet.

"I return the sentiments," he replied, sliding his arm around her waist.

She felt his body tense up as she settled against him, deciding that if he was offering to hold her up, she might as well let him. "You don't hate me. You love me."

"Sometimes," he admitted, his face turning flushed again.

Oh, hell.

She was flirting with him. Damn the tequila or whiskey or whatever the hell she had been drinking. Maybe Lulu was onto something with the stupid umbrella drinks. She didn't seem particularly wasted from them, having only a nice glow, and she wasn't flirting with the last person she wanted to.

Well, that was a lie.

Ritchie would have been the last person Elizabeth wanted to flirt with, but Jason was a close second, and that's only because she felt like she couldn't control herself around him. Maybe this was what her mother meant all those years ago when she said being friends with boys was inappropriate. But Elizabeth never wanted to sleep with them before.

"Aw man," she moaned, leaning her back against Jason's chest, her head still in her hands. "I do not want to sleep with you."

"Elizabeth," he said, slowly stepping away from her, holding his hands out in case she stumbled.

"I didn't mean to say it aloud, Jason," she replied, as if it were his fault. She moaned again, lifting her head from her hands, and looked at him. "Can you just take me home?" He hesitated, and she rolled her eyes. "I swear, just toss me in the trunk and I won't bring up you, me, and sex ever again."

She groaned again, clasping a hand over her mouth. "Just take me to – No," she paused, correcting herself. "Oh, fuck it. I'll call a cab."

"What are you doing?" Jason asked, digging through his pockets as Elizabeth emptied her entire purse on the hallway floor outside her apartment.

"I can't find my keys," she moaned, dropping to her knees and digging through the pile of shit.

Yes, _shit_, because that's exactly what it looked like she was hauling around in her bag.

Swearing under his breath, Jason leaned over and waved his keys in front of her face. "I have a key."

"Oh, that's right," she said, wagging a finger at him as she rocked back on her knees. "I'm sor-"

"Stop," he growled, stooping down beside her and doing his best to shove everything back into her purse.

The entire drive over from the bar, she'd apologized non-stop, constantly berating herself for getting so drunk, for using him, and for hanging up on him. She also tossed in the fact that she said she didn't want to have sex with him, but he was trying to ignore that fact because she basically admitted she wanted to, and he couldn't think about that.

Not ever.

Unless it was _really_ going to happen.

It was bad enough to have her talking about it, joking or not, because they had never once uttered the words sex along with each other's names, and he'd be damned if they were going to start now. It wasn't like he'd never looked at Elizabeth and never thought a dirty thought – he really was just a man – but such thoughts didn't matter because he was never going to act on them.

Or rather, he thought he couldn't, but now…

"Oh, there's my artist's knife," she squealed, snatching it from the pile. "And my cable bill. I was wondering where that went, though I have no idea why I pay for cable when I spend most my time watching TV at your house. You have better channels anyway. How much does that package cost you?"

"More than it should," he muttered, dumping everything into her bag and shaking his head. She was actually the one who convinced him to opt for the premium channels or whatever the hell the company called it, which he later realized was so she could spend the weekends watching _Lifetime Movie Network_ and crying her eyes out.

He held his hand out. "The knife, please?"

"I'm not going to cut you," she said, clutching it in her hand.

"I hope not," he replied, his mouth breaking into a smile, "but you could hurt yourself."

"Oh, whatever," she muttered, dropping it into his hand as she pushed herself up from the floor. "You need to have more trust in me and pointy things, like the butter knife, 'cause you know I wouldn't have stabbed her."

She paused, leaning against the wall as he fiddled with her lock. "Or at least I don't think I would have."

Shaking his head, he pushed her door open, waving her inside, and trying to decide whether or not she was overcompensating for the awkwardness with all her rambling about things that didn't matter.

"You cleaned," he said, his eyes sweeping around the overly tidied room. He couldn't remember the last time her couch wasn't piled with clothes, her books were actually on her shelf, and there weren't four-month-old takeout boxes on the coffee table. "Or did you hire a maid?"

"I cleaned," she replied quietly, stumbling over to the couch and throwing herself down face first, somehow managing to kick her shoes off in the process.

"Why?" he asked flatly, kicking the door closed with his foot and dropping her purse to the floor.

For the first time ever, he felt out of place in her apartment, like he should wait until she told him to sit or that he might stumble onto something he shouldn't, like underwear.

"I was mad," she groaned, her voice muffled against her pillow.

She rolled over, her camisole riding up and her pants riding down. He was fairly sure he saw the glimpse of lacy panties peeking out from the back of her jeans, which was exactly what he was afraid of. She shifted again, rolling around awkwardly, allowing him another peek at her underwear, which were in fact very lacy and black, and almost made him groan. The entire drive over, he did his best not to admire her, telling himself that he just couldn't, but to see her withering around in front of him made such thoughts impossible to control.

"Stop looking at me like that," she murmured, rubbing a hand over her face as she sat up, bracing herself against the couch arm.

Sighing, he made his way over to the couch and sat down on the end farthest from her, leaving several feet in between them.

"Jason," she whispered weakly, suddenly sounding scared. "Are you going to make me talk about what happened?"

"No," he answered, shaking his head. There was no point in getting into what exactly happened that night at the hotel or to even start analyzing why. She was drunk and wouldn't remember a second of it. "Not unless you want to."

She rested her head on the couch arm, pulling her legs onto the couch and tucking them beneath her. "Lulu said something to me tonight."

He tensed at her words, not sure if he liked where this was going, not wanting Elizabeth to be caught up on Johnny anymore, and not willing to face why he felt this way.

Son of a bitch.

What he wouldn't give to be drunk right along with her.

"Do you wanna know what she said?" Elizabeth asked, lifting her head of messy curls and giving him a tired, drunken smile.

"Lulu's said a lot of things to you," he replied, shrugging it off as if he could hide his annoyance. Thankfully, she was drunk and wouldn't be able to read him like an open book. "What did she say?"

"She was asking about you, and for once it wasn't in that nosey, condescending way that she just loves to ask questions," she said, rushing through her words in a nervous way that worried him.

He didn't know _if_ he wanted to know what Lulu said to her.

"She asked about the accident and stuff," she continued, holding a hand over her face. "Saying that we're like a movie or something, and it was weird because I never looked at it this way."

"You and me?" he asked, not sure if he was following correctly.

She nodded, dropping her hand from her face and giving him a long look as if she was searching for something. "I don't want to upset you."

"What did she say?"

"She said…Well, she asked about the accident, what it was like when you woke up."

"Yeah," he swallowed hard, not sure if he liked where it was going.

There had been far too many Jason Quartermaine references for his liking in the past few weeks, and he was left on the outside, fumbling to put the pieces together whenever another one was tossed his way.

"She said it was romantic that we're together. I mean, we're not, but she thinks…" She grew flustered as she slurred and tripped over her words. "She said I was the first person you ever saw."

"Well, you were," he shrugged, never really having thought about it either.

On one hand it was something special, but on the other it made him feel uneasy, and he couldn't figure out why.

She sat up slowly, pushing herself closer to him. "Do you remember?" she asked, drawing her knees up and hugging them to her chest. "You know, when you…"

He nodded stiffly, leaning his head in her direction. "Yeah."

It was one of the clearest memories he had, maybe because it was his first. He remembered how bright the fluorescent lights were, and to this day he still couldn't stand them. The stagnant smell of the hospital room and the sound of hushed voices in the hallway, but he would always remember the girl sitting beside his bed the most.

Elizabeth looked smaller then, more weak and tired, and she had the bluest eyes, so full of hope, which he crushed the second he opened his mouth. She left his room so abruptly, her eyes filling with tears the second he asked who she was, and he spent most of his day worrying about her, even amidst the chaos of his former family. When she finally came back to his room and confessed that she knew who he was before, he felt terrible, like he'd done something wrong by not remembering.

He spent months pushing her away, feeling guilty and angry every time he looked at her. Partly because he believed she wanted him to be Jason Quartermaine, and partly because he just felt so bad he couldn't be.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, pressing her cheek against her knee. "I just…"

"It's okay."

"About the other night," she said, lifting her eyes to his.

"We don't have to talk about it."

"We do," she murmured, letting out a shaky breath. "And I'd rather do it now when I'm drunk and won't necessarily feel it or realize it or…"

"All reasons as to why we should talk about it later."

"But we won't. We'll just avoid one another and…I shouldn't have – I wouldn't have kissed you had I known how it was going to make me feel."

"How's that?" he asked, stretching his arm over the back of the couch, hoping if he took some initiative she wouldn't be so worried.

Frowning, she scooted closer until the tips of his fingers grazed her shoulder. "Like _he_ did," she confessed, blinking back tears as Jason's heart sunk in his chest. "And it scares the hell out of me."


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Elizabeth hated the taste of whiskey, especially when she woke in the morning with the taste still on her tongue.

Groaning, she lifted her head long enough to glance at the digital clock on her nightstand and realize that she was still dressed in her clothes from the night before. She dropped her head back to her pillow, her nose wrinkling up when she realized that it too smelled like whiskey.

"Oh, shit," she cried, her head snapping back up and looking at the clock.

3:30.

She moaned painfully, dropping her face back to her pillow, knowing there was no way that the clock was showing the a.m. time. Rolling onto her back, she lifted her exceptionally heavy arm and laid it over her eyes, her other clutching her stomach.

Three – no four – maybe five? Shots of whiskey, and three Long Islands, and there was a vague memory of maybe doing some weird colored shot with Ritchie. What the hell had she been thinking?

_Jason. _

She frowned at the thought to of him, her lips curling in disgust as she rubbed her eyes against her arm. Technically, he wasn't completely to blame, but if she would have known he was going to stay sober while she got sloshed beyond recognition, perhaps things could have been different.

Like maybe she would talk to him and not – _Oh, hell._

Had she talked to him?

She sat up in bed, despite the churning in her stomach and looked at her nightstand where a bottle of water sat, along with a bottle of aspirin, and a note written on a post-it. Whimpering, she managed to crawl across the bed, growing more and more annoyed with how terrible she smelled.

"Stupid whiskey," she hissed, reaching out to snatch the items in one swoop. The water nearly fell from her hands, but she managed to catch it and not throw up in the process.

Rolling onto her back, she opened the aspirin, pouring two, and then decided on four if she was going to somehow get through the day. She started to pop them in her mouth, but noticed the post-it balled up in her hand. Against her better judgment, she decided to read it, and her heart sank at the sight of his familiar script.

_Elizabeth, _

_I'm sorry for __everything__. _

_Jason _

Like she had any idea what that meant, but apparently it was something.

"Fuck," she spat, smacking herself in the head with the paper and rolling her eyes as it stuck to her forehead. She opened the bottle of water and tossed the aspirin into her mouth, drinking half the bottle down in several gulps. Tipping her head back, she glanced at the clock again, knowing that if she didn't get a move on, she was going to be late.

She crawled to the edge of the bed, slowly pushing herself to her feet and trying to fight the uneasiness that washed over her. She didn't have time to be hungover if she was going to make it to her opening.

Yawning, she padded her way to the bathroom, reaching up to jerk the post-it from her face when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. "Come on, Webber," she murmured, leaning over to turn on the shower.

She braced one hand against the wall as she shimmied out of her jeans, pushing away to tug her camisole over her head. Both of which smelled heavily like liquor. She had no time to focus on scolding herself, sure that she could do enough of that later.

She arched her back when she stepped into the shower stall, the hot water easing her tense body immediately. Yawning again, she leaned forward to brace two hands against the tiled-wall, letting the scalding hot water beat down on her. Giving into her exhaustion, she kneeled down, bracing one hand on the wall, when suddenly she was hit with a memory of being in her hallway and Jason beside her.

"No," she moaned, clenching her hands into angry fists.

"_I wouldn't have kissed you had I known how it was going to make me feel."_

She smacked herself in the forehead, swearing under her breath.

"_How's that?"_

"No, no, no," she cried, slumping against the wall, her head in her hands.

"_Like he did." _

"Oh, son of a bitch. You stupid, stupid, girl," she groaned, slamming her head repeatedly against the stall, telling herself that she deserved the pain.

There was no way she was going to make it through the day and survive.

Jason paced outside Elizabeth's apartment door, torn between knocking and walking away. She'd made it clear the night before that she would drive herself to the gallery opening, but he couldn't bear the thought of seeing her and things being awkward all over again. Lately, whenever they took a step forward and fixed a problem, they seemed to take three steps back without ever meaning to.

He felt guilty for using her intoxication against her, knowing that once he got her alone, she would tell him why she was so upset that night. He almost wished he'd never asked after getting more than he bargained for. Instead of hearing that she liked it, that it lit a fire for her just like it had for him, she brought up Jason Quartermaine and how she felt for _him_, which had nothing to do with how she felt for Jason Morgan.

The possibilities of what that statement meant confused him, so he imagined she was just as lost. For years, she'd been juggling two different men, one that she loved more than anything and one who had become her best friend. He'd never thought about how hard it must to be look at someone who was once a different person and try not to see who they were.

Elizabeth had always been very firm about that, and when he thought about the day he woke up from his accident, he knew that she let Jason Quartermaine go immediately, pushing him out of her mind and heart. It didn't seem fair now that she'd been forced to let go of someone so important to her or that she'd done it for him. He firmly believed in people having the right to live their life by their own choices, not ones made for them, and in a way, he'd made a choice for so many people.

But none of them mattered as much as she did.

"Jason?" Her voice was soft and low, surprised to find him pacing in her hallway when she opened the door.

"Hey," he said, feeling his face turn flushed as he turned around. "I, uh, I thought…"

He swallowed hard as his eyes swept over her petite form that was framed in a teal knee-length dress, the scoop neck revealing little more than her collar bone, and the short sleeves covering half of her arms. His gaze dipped to her feet, and he arched his eyebrows in surprise of the shiny, silver flats, almost disappointed that she'd traded in her token stilettos. She brought truth to the statement that less was more – _in every possible way._

"Jason, what are you doing here?"

He swallowed again, lifting his eyes to her face and biting back a groan at the sight of her bemused, sexy smile, which was completely unintentional on her part – but what didn't she make sexy these days? Her hair was curled in tight ringlets, a thin headband, the exact color of her dress, pulling them neatly away from her face.

She even made headbands sexy in a way that he just couldn't take.

"I, uh, thought we could talk," he said slowly, slipping his hands into his pockets.

Something rubbed against his hand and he pulled out his wrinkled tie, having spent twenty minutes trying to tie it himself before giving up and stuffing it in his pocket in a fit of agitation.

She eyed him wearily and tucked her silver clutch beneath her arm, stepping forward to take the tie from his hand. "_You_ were going to wear a tie?" she asked, smoothing her shaky hands over the material.

"Yeah," he shrugged, stiffening as she reached for his collar and slid the tie beneath it.

She arched on her toes to adjust it around his neck, and he was engulfed with a mixture of her shampoo, her perfume, and just that sweet smell that seemed to follow her everywhere. He would have reveled in it had he been able to tear his eyes away from her trembling hands, letting him know that she had definitely remembered everything she said to him last night.

"Do you want to talk?" he asked slowly, as she slid the tie through the loop, tightening it against his neck and slowly smoothing it against his chest. He allowed himself a second or two to be annoyed that she had done something so expertly.

Her eyes fluttered closed as she let out an uneasy breath, and he found himself smiling at her and wanting to comfort her in some way. "We don't have to."

"But we should," she murmured, her eyes snapping open to meet his. She was wearing the right amount of makeup, just enough eye shadow and eyeliner, to make them really pop, and he knew if he stared into them for too long, he'd drown.

"I don't want things to be uncomfortable between us," she confessed quietly, one of her hands continuing to smooth over his tie.

"Neither do I."

"And what I said to you-"

"You remember?" he asked, _needing_ her to acknowledge what she said in some way.

She nodded. "I meant it," she shrugged, her eyes brimming with tears. "And I'm sorry for bringing him up, especially to compare him or any feelings I have-"

"Don't apologize for what you feel," he interrupted, lifting his hand to hers and holding it against his chest. "I never thought that in asking you-" He paused as his cell phone rang in his pocket, and she frowned, clearly hating the interruption as much as he did, especially when he pulled away to answer it.

"What's going on, Ritchie?" he snarled, adding bad timing to another reason that he needed to fire the man.

"One of our shipments didn't make it through customs or something. All kinds of bad shit is going on. I tried to call Johnny, but he didn't answer, and-"

"I'll be there in ten," he growled, snapping his phone closed and turning back to Elizabeth. "Work. I have to go and take care of some things." She nodded, her face filling with disappointment.

"I'll be there soon," he said, stepping forward and leaning down to press a kiss against her forehead. She tensed slightly, one of her hands grabbing his arm in surprise. "I won't miss this, especially not over coffee."

Elizabeth slowly perused the room, trying to ignore the fact that it was her art lining the walls, and the people strolling about were potential buyers. She'd gone into this telling herself that if she sold a single painting, she would be proud, and if she sold nothing, she was an epic failure and would spend the rest of her life doing the books for Jason.

Oh, Jason.

It had been hours since she'd left her apartment, and Johnny had shown up briefly and made a bee-line for the door the second Elizabeth told him about Ritchie's call. Lulu, the woman who supposedly hated brushing elbows with the stuffy upper class, was right at home as she moseyed around the room and talked to everyone about the paintings. She'd spent a good hour telling Elizabeth just how brilliant everything was, and she just nodded her on, grateful when she finally went off on her own.

She felt uncomfortable walking around on her own, like everyone was watching her and expecting something. It was just how she figured she would feel and why she wanted Jason or Johnny on her arm. O'Brien would make crude comments about everyone in the room, and Jason's presence would put her at ease like it always had. Even when they weren't very close, she found comfort in having him near.

Sighing, she stopped in front of the only lonely painting in the room, her self-portrait, and found herself wondering why she'd bothered to show it. It was almost too personal, making even her shiver as she looked into the cerulean eyes, so dark and pensive. She was surprised with how sad and dark she appeared, the shadows beneath the eyes and on the cheeks made her look ragged and worn down. When she first started the painting, she found herself staring into a mirror for hours at a time, trying to figure out how to approach the painting, and then one morning she'd just woken up and started. The end result scared her, made her feel like she was standing outside of herself, and she just wasn't sure how to feel about that.

"Hey," came Jason's voice as he stepped up behind her, sliding an arm around in front of her to hand her a glass of champagne. "Sorry, I'm so late."

"Thank you," she said, cradling the flute in her hand, not daring to bring the glass to her lips. She was still surprised with how at ease they were and wondered if they were better liars than either of them ever let on. "Is everything okay?"

He shrugged, tipping his own glass of champagne towards the painting. "This is nice."

"Can you see it?" she asked, turning her gaze back to the painting.

"Sort of," he replied, running his thumb over the smooth glass of the flute. "It's you."

"Yeah," she murmured, frowning at it, still not sure if she liked what she saw.

"What's wrong?" he asked, squinting his eyes at the painting.

She felt bad that something so simple was hard for him, though sometimes she tried to imagine what things looked like in his eyes. "Do I look like that?" she asked, carefully holding her champagne flute as she folded her arms over her chest.

"Like what?"

"Sad."

He frowned, bringing his glass to his lips, and she almost laughed when he grimaced as he swallowed. "No."

"You hesitated."

"It was a loaded question."

She tipped her head in his direction. "Give me the loaded answer."

"Well," he shrugged, taking another sip to buy his time, better hiding his disgust this time. He leaned in closely, his breath hot against her ear and she was torn between pulling away and pushing against him, so she just froze. "You're the artist. You're supposed to see things no one else does."

Jason didn't realize he was holding his breath until he stepped outside the gallery to its open terrace, relieved to find he was the only one outside. Between what had happened with work and being near Elizabeth, he felt like he was crawling out of his skin. He wanted to fix things between them for good, but didn't know how – or worse, what exactly fixing entailed.

He always felt out of place in a suit, the formalities of how to hold your head or your drink always making him itch. And as if that weren't bad enough, he could feel everyone's eyes on him as he and Elizabeth made their way around the room. She insisted on explaining every painting, not that he minded because there was nothing better than seeing her work through her eyes, but he knew how people looked at him, waiting to see a glimpse of the former Quartermaine golden boy.

Thankfully, no one from his former family had shown their face, and he almost wondered if Elizabeth had told them to stay away. She'd done so in the past, despite how close she once was to them, knowing their presence would upset him. It would be different if they could just accept his life and the man he was instead of listing off every way he _wasn't_ Jason Quartermaine.

"I thought I'd find you out here," Elizabeth murmured, appearing in the doorway, silhouetted beautifully from the light inside the gallery.

He gave up any hopes of stopping himself from admiring her, partly because he believed after what she'd said, maybe it was okay. Or maybe she was just caught up in feelings she used to have. He didn't know anything anymore.

"It gets to be a bit much," he said, bracing himself against the railing with his hands.

"Yeah, I could use a break myself." She stepped up beside him, her elbow nudging his until he looked down at her. "You sure you're okay?"

He nodded, though it was a lie, knowing he'd stumbled over his words to correct it. "I, uh, I – About earlier."

"Oh."

"Sorry I had to leave."

"It's okay." She leaned against the railing with her hip, placing a hand on his arm. "What I said…" Her face flushed and she looked away, her hand tightening around his arm. "Why did you leave the note? I didn't understand it."

"I hurt you," he said quietly, taking a deep breath. "Forcing you to forget someone in place of me – It wasn't fair, Elizabeth."

"Jason," she murmured, her face softening as her eyes found his. He could see that all her defenses were crumbling, that this would be about nothing but honesty, and he wasn't sure if he could take it. "You didn't make me do anything I didn't want to. I couldn't hold onto Jason Quartermaine once you woke up because you _weren't_ him. It would have hurt me, it would have hurt you, and as odd as it sounds, I wanted to have you in some way. I can't explain it. I just knew that I needed you, regardless of _who_ you were."

Her grip loosened as her thumb smoothed over his suit jacket. "And when I kissed you – I did it to make Johnny jealous, thinking that if he saw us together and thought we were happy, maybe he would feel like he was missing something."

Jason nodded slowly, wondering if she knew the true affect it'd had on Johnny – how it had taken him back in the same way it had her.

"Instead, it was like I was seventeen again," she whispered, clutching his arm. "It was like I was feeling for the first time in years, and I was so afraid." She closed her eyes, holding back her tears. "When we were kids, you and Johnny were mine and only mine. _My_ best friends, _my_ boys, and I never imagined there would be a time when you weren't. When we talked about growing up, we were going to do it all together, and then…"

"The accident," he filled in, shifting his gaze away, unable to look at her.

"Jason Quartermaine and Johnny O'Brien were supposed to be my constants," she continued, her hand trembling as she held him. "They were going to always be there, and then suddenly they weren't, and you woke up." She shook her head, leaning against him. "And all I had was Johnny. He knew me before, he knew me after, and I was so terrified of losing that."

"And he left," he muttered, attempting to put the distorted pieces together and waiting for the moment they would all magically click together.

"And you became my constant again," she said, her eyes fluttering open as she peered up at him. "I needed someone after Johnny left, and you were there without thinking twice, even after I kept you at arm's length because I was afraid." She lifted a hand to his face, turning his head so that he looked down at her. "I didn't want to feel things for you. Not when I'd already lost you once."

"And now?" he asked roughly.

"I'm still scared because I don't know what I feel. Is it just distorted and left over from _him_?" she admitted, smiling faintly as she slid her hand up his sleeve to his chest and fisted it in his jacket. "Or worse – is it real? Is it something I could lose all over again?"

He couldn't decide what was worse, not knowing what to feel or not knowing what to say. Her eyes were begging him to say _anything_, but he just couldn't, so he responded the only way that seemed right and lowered his mouth to hers.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Elizabeth managed to suck in a breath, her body pressed up against Jason's as he fumbled to slide his key into the lock of his penthouse. She braced her head briefly on his shoulder, trying to collect her thoughts and wondering if she was going to do _this_ with _him_.

The kiss on the terrace gave her a glimpse of what it was like to really kiss Jason Morgan, sans ulterior motives, and she knew where they were going to end up long before they left the gallery. Had they been able to slip away at that very moment, they probably wouldn't have made it out of the parking lot. She didn't know whether to thank Lulu for appearing on the terrace, awkwardly interrupting them to let Elizabeth know they were asking for her inside. She'd pulled away from Jason breathless and weak-kneed, not knowing how she made it into the gallery where she gave a brief speech and thanked everyone for coming.

Minutes later, Jason had not-so-subtly asked her if she'd be ready to slip away soon, and her head spun at the possibilities. It had been a while since she'd been close enough to a man to breathe him in and press her body against hers, and she was desperate with need so much that it shocked her. He could have tried to undress her in the middle of the room with everyone watching, and she honestly didn't know if she could have stopped him.

She would have thought after being so honest with him, after telling him some of her deepest fears that she would have been shy, too afraid to be close to him, but now she _needed_ to have him. Thankfully, they'd parked on the highest level of the parking garage and had a short ride up in the elevator, or they may have not managed to make it this far. He groaned in frustration, his hand digging into her hip as he fiddled with the lock, and she would have been annoyed too had his body not been pressed so firmly against hers.

"Dammit," he growled as she turned around, her back to his chest and shoved his hands away.

She twisted the key and shoved the door open, letting out a yelp as his arms wrapped around her and he practically lifted her into the penthouse. He kicked the door closed with his foot, spinning her around and slamming her up against the door, eliciting another cry. He paused long enough to look her over, making sure he hadn't really hurt her, before taking her mouth in his, his tongue seeking the warmth of her mouth.

His hands roamed over her, one groping her breast through the silk of her dress while the other skimmed up her thigh. She shivered beneath his touch, trembling with anticipation, and she melted against him as he roughly squeezed her thigh. Hooking his hand beneath her knee, her lifted her leg to his hip, thrusting against her and causing her to moan into his mouth.

Jason left a blazing trail everywhere he touched, bringing her alive beneath his hands. He abandoned her breast to slide his arm around her to the small of her back, forcing her to arch towards him as he slid his hand up to the zipper of her dress. He fumbled, just like he had with the lock, but he distracted her by skimming his hand up her thigh, his finger tracing over the lace of her underwear.

"Oh, God," she groaned, tearing her mouth away as his hand moved her, not so subtly pressing between her legs.

He grinned against her neck, nuzzling his face into her hair as he lowered the zipper of her dress, his palm pressing against her bare back. She laughed huskily through her haze when he lifted his face to look at her, clearly surprised that she wasn't wearing a bra.

Jason growled something incoherent, taking her mouth in his again, and she gripped the lapels of his jacket as she rolled her hips against him. He pulled his hand from between her legs, sucking her cry of protest from her mouth and shifting against her to tug her dress from her shoulders. For a brief moment, she grew flushed, nervous at the thought of him seeing her so bare. He'd seen her thighs on down, but this was different, this was where so few people – despite what he and Johnny may have thought about her sexual escapades – had gone, and suddenly she was _scared_.

"Elizabeth," he murmured, pressing his forehead against hers, the silk of her dress covering just the top of her breasts. "Are you-"

"Yeah," she panted, releasing his jacket to bat away his hands from her arms.

He braced his hands on either side of her head, staring her in the eye, silently encouraging her to do whatever made her comfortable. She knew he wouldn't pressure her or ask her to do something, that she would have to do it on her own, and the vulnerability that came with such a choice made her tremble.

Swallowing hard, she gently tugged the material to shimmy it down and over her hips until it was a pool of silk at her feet. His eyes roamed over her, his breaths coming shorter with every passing second. When he dropped a hand to her shoulder, inching his palm towards her bare breast, she closed her eyes in anticipation, groaning loudly as he held the tender flesh in his hand. He squeezed gently and pressed himself against her, leaving a delicate kiss against her neck.

"You're so beautiful, Elizabeth," he whispered, gently tugging at her hardened nipple and rolling it between his thumb and forefinger. She hissed, gripping his lapels again and thrusting against him. "I don't know how I never noticed before…"

Her chest tightened at his words and she nuzzled his face, pressing a kiss against the shell of his earlobe. "You just didn't think I could be as good as those girls at Jake's," she whispered huskily, snaking her tongue across his earlobe. "But I can be."

Almost immediately he stiffened, releasing her breast from his hand and gently removing her leg from his waist. He glanced at her briefly, his eyes hard and distant, any hint of desire and need having disappeared. Stepping back, he shook his head, running a hand over his face.

"But you're _not_," he muttered, suddenly looking disgusted. He turned away as if he couldn't bear to look at her.

"Jas-"

"Put your dress back on," he snapped, his tone so rough it brought her to tears.

"Did I do something wrong?" she asked, her back pressed against the door, too afraid to move.

"Just put your damn dress back on," he growled, keeping his back to her.

"Jason…" Her voice trailed off as he shook his head, and she slid downward, her back against the door to grab her dress. Blinking back tears, she shook out the material, stepping into it with legs so shaky she had to catch herself against the door to keep from falling over. "Jason, what did I do?"

With every second that passed, she felt further humiliated, hating herself for actually opening up to him and allowing things to get this far. Maybe she'd always known this was possible, that if she got close to Jason and really let herself feel, she'd be back in this same place, caught between pining for and briefly touching what she wanted. She was already too mixed up and now _this._

"Say something to me dammit," she hissed, shaking her hands at him. "You don't get to bring me home, do _that,_ and stop like it doesn't mean anything."

"It does," he muttered, turning around slowly, his head hung as if he couldn't look at her.

"Then what the hell just happened, Jason?" she cried, pursing her quivering lips together. She felt ready to burst into pieces at any moment and she wasn't going to allow that to happen in front of him. She'd run out of his penthouse first. "You can just go to hell, you asshole."

Spinning around, she grabbed the door handle and jerked it open, but his hand slammed against it and kept her from leaving. "I want to leave," she spat, tensing up when she realized how close he was to her.

Jason's hand touched her shoulder and slid down her arm to cup her elbow, pulling her so that she faced him. His eyes slowly rose to hers, full of apology and an ache that she didn't quite understand. "You're not like those girls, Elizabeth," he swallowed, letting out a shaky breath. "You never were, and I never wanted you to be."

He spoke with such sincerity that she shivered, feeling things too intense, and she just _had_ to get out of there, but she couldn't find it in herself to move. Sighing, he held her gaze for a second longer and pushed himself away from the door, giving her the option to stay or go.

"You can go now," he muttered, slipping his hands into his pants pockets and frowning at her.

"So that's it?" she asked quietly, wishing she could sink into the floor and disappear.

"We're not doing this," he replied firmly. "I can't."

"Because of what I said?" she asked, not understanding where he was coming from.

"You said it yourself – you're mixed up, Elizabeth. How do you even know this is what you want?"

She shrugged, knowing he was right and she couldn't really answer him. "Do you know how hard it was for me to tell you everything I have tonight?"

He nodded, clenching his jaw.

"I don't think you do," she replied, shaking her head. "And I may not know what I want, but I felt safe, like I needed you, and that's one feeling that's never changed."

"You could be confused," he argued softly, letting out a heavy sigh as he walked away from her.

"This has nothing to do with him, Ja-"

"It has everything to do with him," he interrupted, pacing back and forth behind the couch. "There's no way it can't."

"I don't know what you want," she shrugged hopelessly.

She didn't know how to explain what she felt, that she didn't see them as the same person, and that her heart literally felt pulled in two.

"The truth," he murmured, flicking his eyes to hers. She raised her eyebrows not following what he was saying. "I want the truth about Jason Quartermaine."

"It doesn't matter," she said seriously, refusing to address it in any way. "He's gone, and so is the part of me that loved him."

"Till now?" Jason challenged, and she felt awkward seeing him so uncertain about something.

He was always so self-assured, never worrying about what people said or did, and it was like she'd manage to shake that foundation from top to bottom.

"You're making this so complicated," she groaned, rubbing her hands over her face.

"No, it just is," he argued, shaking his head at her. "You're doing what you do when things are complicated – you get scared. You shut down, and there's no way to get past this unless we talk about it."

"What am I supposed to say?" she cried, her voice booming through the penthouse. "You're not him, Jason. You've never been him." She sounded angry, cruel even, but she didn't care. "I let him go. I stuffed away the part of me that loved him, and I have no intentions of letting her out again."

"Then, what are we doing?" he asked restlessly, sounding just as upset as she was.

"I'm not trying to recreate what I had with him," she said quietly, her voice breaking. "And for you to imply that – you don't know-"

"Exactly, Elizabeth. _I don't know._ I've spent years hearing bits and pieces of his life from you and Johnny, and nothing adds up for me. Johnny says you loved him, but he didn't love you, and I don't know if I can believe that anymore."

Elizabeth swallowed hard, suddenly feeling as if she were still naked. "Johnny doesn't know everything," she whispered, hurrying to wipe away her tears before they fell. "What I felt for him was young and pure. Nothing could have touched it, and it still can't because I was a different person, Jason. What I feel now, as distorted and mixed up as it is, is very different from what I felt then."

"You're avoiding the topic," he muttered, and she knew he was upset that she was talking in circles, but she didn't know how not to. "I have a right to know about him."

"You have a right to nothing," she hissed, folding her arms over her chest as if to hold herself together. "You didn't want to know about him before, and now-"

"Now, things are different," he cut in, practically trembling with frustration. "We started something, be it out of your desire to get to Johnny, but we can't go back-"

"Do you want to?" she interrupted curiously, needing to know.

"I want to know about Jason Quartermaine," he repeated, ignoring the question.

She started to buck again, telling him to go to hell, but she couldn't, suddenly feeling guilty. It had been hard for her to let go of him and pretend that he had never existed, but it must have been just as hard for Jason to live in his shadow.

"There isn't much to tell," she said quietly, slowly rocking back and forth on her feet. "One minute we were talking about him leaving for college, how he was leaving and I was staying, and if I could wait…" She sighed, walking over to the couch and sitting down, needing to have something beneath her. "The next he was chasing after his jealous and drunk brother, and before any of us knew what was happening…"

"So you were together, and Johnny didn't know?" he asked, leaning against the back of the couch.

She shook her head, fisting her hands in the silk of her dress. "We would have been, or at least I like to think so. Some days it seemed inevitable, that I was destined to be the girl he came back to."

"You would have been okay with that?"

"I would have gone with him had he asked, but he didn't…"

"So you were going to wait."

"I was going to wait," she repeated, "knowing that there would have been other girls and relationships in between – I was still willing to wait."

They both grew quiet, knowing she'd said her piece, and she wasn't going to give him any further details until she was _ready._ She could tell him about Jason Quartermaine, until he knew every last detail; every moment where he touched her or held her hand, and the few times that he'd actually pressed his lips to hers, but none of them mattered.

_Not a single bit. _

Their relationship as small or as big as it was, depending on how you looked at it, had been just _theirs,_ and no retelling would ever do it justice.

"I never wanted you to be him," she said, turning around so that she was looking up at him. "I may have tried to find bits of him in your eyes, but I never wanted…not for a second."

"I never felt like you did," he replied, lifting his legs over the back of the couch and sliding down so that he was sitting behind her, his arm draped over the back of it. "Not for a second."

"Good," she murmured, a smile tugging at her lips as she leaned back, her shoulder touching his arm, just wanting to touch him in some way.

She knew his head was swirling with possibilities; of how far they could have gone, what they could have lost because of it, and how they were supposed to ever go back. Not to mention his known affections for the women at the bar and how she'd just _had_ to go there. She tried not to think that things could have ended differently, that they could have been in bed, enjoying some kind of awkward afterglow.

In the moment it felt good; his hands, his mouth, and the security that came with being so close to him. She'd never wanted anything so badly in all her life, and the thought of it all still made her blush. She didn't know whether to be thankful or not that she'd stuck her foot in her mouth, but Jason seemed content, and that was enough. He _cared_, and that was more than the majority of men she'd hopped into the bed with, but none had been this confusing. It felt so right, but so wrong, and she still had no idea what she wanted, or if she was brave enough to change everything.

"About what I said before about the bar and being…" She felt uncomfortable and a little dirty, or maybe it was just embarrassing, even though he was clearly going out of his way to let her know it was okay – that he hadn't just stripped her down to her bare essentials twenty minutes ago and nearly done naughty things against his front door.

"It'd be easy to go further without thinking, but…" He shook his head and curled his arm around her shoulder, silently encouraging her to scoot close, his face softening as she did. "I don't want you to have any regrets."

She nodded, understanding where he was coming from.

"You're more than just one night, Elizabeth," he whispered, tipping her head back so that she looked at him. His thumb swiped gently over her cheek, her eyes fluttering at the tender touch. "I couldn't pretend you were anything less if I wanted to."


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Jason was not a sentimental person. Nor was he the kind of man who really said what he felt, mostly because he always thought words to be trivial. To him, you showed someone you cared about them by taking care of them, not by always telling them. Maybe this was why he found it impossible to keep his hands off of Elizabeth every time they were alone, which was also why she was making sure they were never alone.

Until this very second as he stepped into his office at the warehouse to find her leaning across the desk with Ritchie, who was not so subtly peeking down the top of her blouse as she rambled on about something having to do with their books.

"Excuse me," Jason grunted, gripping his door in one hand and curtly waving Ritchie out with the other.

"Sorry, boss," he said, straightening up and flashing Elizabeth a wink. "She had a question about something in the books-"

"There's a shipment coming in on Pier 32 in fifteen minutes," he cut in firmly, trying not to sneak a peek at Elizabeth as she leaned back in his chair, crossing her legs and giving him a look that let him know she knew he was jealous.

He really didn't know what to do with her sometimes.

"Go supervise," Jason continued, jerking his head towards the hallway.

Once Ritchie was out of the room, he kicked the door closed with his foot and bit back a groan as Elizabeth ran a pencil back and forth between her lips. The sad thing was she wasn't even trying to turn him on; it was a habit she'd had for years, but now _everything_ about her turned him on. She knew this, knew that he couldn't help but want to touch her, hence why for the last week, they'd only been alone three times since the night of the gallery open.

One where Jason had all but pinned her to his desk seconds after she walked into his office wearing some skimpy dress on her way to a girl's night out with some girls from work. One where Elizabeth had called Jason to come over and help her move her new couch around her living room, resulting in the two of them rolling around on it like teenagers. The third where they agreed that they had to figure something out before they passed the point of no return and couldn't bear to look at one another; of course this was said between breaths as they made out on his pool table, but they were trying nonetheless.

Jason didn't want to doubt Elizabeth's feelings, but he couldn't help it, simply because he'd seen her go through men and how relationships affected her. She went in with too much of her heart on her sleeve, and while he'd do everything he could to make sure she didn't get hurt, she always managed to do enough of that on her own. When one crashed and burned, she'd just push herself on to another – not that he had much room to talk based on his own relationship experiences.

After all, his relationships for pretty much his entire existence revolved around buying a girl a drink, taking her home, and putting her in a taxi, usually within the same night.

And Elizabeth was _not_ that kind of woman.

He was still irked that she'd compared herself to those women, not that anything was wrong with the girls he brought home, but they just weren't Elizabeth. She was in a league all of her own, and he was still getting used to the fact that she wanted him, let alone that he wanted her. It really was the most fucked up situation possible, and he had no idea how to get out of it.

"Stop," she murmured, closing the ledgers and stacking them up neatly in the center of his desk. She left one open, turning it towards him. "I mean it. Stop, Jason."

"Stop what?" he asked wryly, letting his eyes roam over the dip of her blouse, and she sat back, arching her eyebrows in annoyance.

"Looking at me like that," she replied, holding her hand over her chest.

"Like what?" he asked curiously, sitting down on the edge of the desk and reaching for his stack of mail that had been dropped in the metal bin.

"Like you've seen me…" She blushed, dropping her head so that her hair fell in her face.

"Naked?" he grunted, tossing his mail down, and reaching over to tuck her hair behind her ear as he leaned over. "Because I have, in case you forgot."

"Not completely," she reminded him, her lips pulled in a taut frown.

"True," he agreed, grinning as she scooted the chair back from the desk. "I'd try to imagine, but…" He winked at her, causing her to scowl. "I don't think I could do you justice."

"Stop," she hissed, getting up from the desk and grabbing the ledger. "Your numbers are wrong."

"You like it," he murmured, taking it from her hands and ignoring how she muttered several obscenities under her breath.

_Asshole. _

It actually sounded sexy now.

"I'll take care of it," he said, snapping the book closed and tossing it down on the stack.

"The numbers are way off, Jason," she replied, chewing her lip nervously. "Not just by a little bit."

"I'll take care of it," he repeated, shrugging as he tried to hide how annoyed he was by the off numbers, but he'd been expecting it.

He folded his arms over his chest, watching her intently as she shuffled her feet against the floor, clearly unnerved by having nothing to say.

"So, uh, what have you been up to?" he asked, wanting to remind her they hadn't seen each other in days.

Johnny and Lulu had left for Europe a couple days ago and without his friend around, he'd been bored, unable to remember what he did before he and Elizabeth had become _real_ friends.

She shrugged, still working her lip back and forth between her teeth. "I took a couple extra shifts at the gallery. I started some new paintings. I cleaned-"

"Someone piss you off again?" he teased, bracing his hands against the desk on either side of him.

"No," she spat, fighting a smile. "I just didn't have anything else to do."

"Yeah," he nodded, not sure what else to say.

The room grew quiet again, and she turned to gather her things, but Jason grabbed her by the arm, pulling her towards him.

"If you kiss me again, Jason, I swear to God…" Her voice trailed off before she finished her threat, and he was mildly amused, all too interested in what a kiss would entail.

It would be worth it anyway.

"I'm not going to kiss you," he said, narrowing his eyes in annoyance.

She frowned at his tone of disgust. "Well, you don't have to say it like that."

"Like what?" he asked defensively, letting go of her hand when he realized he was still holding onto it.

"Like you don't want to," she replied, sliding her hand over her hip.

"What makes you think I do?" he teased, rolling his eyes as he slid off the end of the desk.

"Well," she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him against her, "if the past week has been any indication…" She arched her eyebrows, flashing him a toothy grin that he refused to fall for.

"No more," he murmured, pulling away from her. Her face fell and she almost looked hurt, which wasn't the point, but he wasn't going to let her know that. "Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?" she asked mockingly.

"That whiny face of yours – it's not going to work," he murmured, pushing past her to sit down at his desk.

"I do not have a whiny face," she hissed, moving to sit on the desk in front of him before he could slide the chair beneath it.

He surveyed her position, legs hanging over the edge, spread at just the right angle, and it would have been easy to pull her into his lap and have at her, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Pervert," Elizabeth groaned, kicking him in the shin.

"Dammit," he growled, leaning forward to rub his leg where the heel of her stiletto had dug against it. "You and those fucking shoes."

"You like them," she said simply, pushing herself off the desk and hurrying around to the other side. "You want them…"

She blushed, causing Jason to laugh. "A dirty thought doesn't work if you can't finish it."

"You can't have me or my shoes," she said, and he waited for her to stick her tongue out, taunting him.

He had no doubt that either of them were above such a thing at this point.

"What are we doing?" he asked, letting out a heavy sigh. The room went silent at his question, desperately wanting an answer as much as he did. Elizabeth stiffened, any amusement fading instantly from her face. "Seriously, what are we doing?"

"I don't know," she replied honestly, sinking her teeth into her lower lip, and he would have replied, but he was too busy thinking about how her lips felt against his…

"I really screwed things up," she said softly, raking a hand nervously through her hair.

"No, you didn't," he replied, grabbing the pencil she'd been rolling between her lips and tapping it against the desk. "We just have to figure out where to go from here, and if there's anywhere to go."

"Stop doing that," she muttered exhaustedly, her shoulders slumping. He just looked at her, clearly not understanding what the hell she was talking about. "One day I see you, and you're tossing me on this desk or pushing me down on my couch-"

"You pushed me down," he interjected, holding up the pencil and waving it back and forth.

"Oh, whatever," she said, rolling her eyes. "The point is that you can't shove me down on a couch one second and ask me what to do the next. I've made it clear what I want and who I want and-"

"Where you want it," he cut in, unable to help himself.

"You are such an asshole."

He grinned at her words, eliciting a scowl in return, which caused his grin to widen.

"I hate you."

This time he laughed, causing her to mutter obscenities under her breath, forcing him to laugh louder.

"Jas-"

"Go on a date with me," he interrupted, surprising her as well as himself, and he almost wished he hadn't said it.

"What?" she asked, looking at him in disbelief.

"I'm asking you on a date," he shrugged, tugging nervously at the collar of his t-shirt as he started to sweat.

There was a strong possibly that she could say no, tell him to go to hell, and all this had been about the tease.

"Why?"

"Isn't that what people in our situation do?" he asked, knowing immediately that was the worst possible thing he could have said.

"So you're asking me because that's what people do – not what you want-"

"No, no, no," he interrupted, getting up from the desk and waving his hand at her. "I'm asking you because I want to take you out on a date."

"Jason Morgan doesn't go on dates," she said, laughing to herself.

"Elizabeth Webber does," he countered, slowly walking around the desk.

They were both dancing around an inevitable truth; this would work or it wouldn't, and they had to find out or else it would be a never ending cycle. Somehow they'd started this and they had to finish it.

"A date," she murmured quietly, her plump lips settling into a smile.

He nodded, walking over to her, mostly to keep her from running out of his office before he got a straight answer. "Yeah, dinner, a movie, drinks-"

"How is that so different from anything we've ever done?" she asked seriously.

He shrugged, reaching out to grab her hand. "You can pay," he offered.

She laughed, rolling her eyes. "Do I get to plan it too?"

"If you want," he replied, not sure if it was a trick question or not.

"Only you," she said in amazement.

"What does that mean?" He was still nervous and waiting to be shot down, which was a new feeling altogether.

Jason Morgan _never_ got shot down.

She shrugged, squeezing his hand. "Only you would ask a girl out on a date, and then dump the stress of paying and planning off on her."

"I did not dump it-"

"And that's a lot considering you assumed the girl wants to go out with you in the first place."

"I retract my offer," he said, glaring playfully.

"You're right," she replied, letting go of his hand and turning towards the door. "Let's just call the whole thing off."

Jason frowned as he watched her open the door and disappear down the hall, and he almost didn't believe she was walking away until he followed her into the hall and saw her disappear around the corner, her hips swaying from side to side and her heels clicking on the linoleum.

"Son of a bitch," he muttered, leaning against the doorway and rubbing his hands against his face. "You stupid asshole."

_He'd just fucked up real good._

"Jason."

"What the hell," he growled, dropping his hands from his face to see Elizabeth standing in front of him, an amused look on her face.

She tipped her head to the side, looking him up and down in a way that made him want to pull her into his office and put the desk chair to use. "I'm free tomorrow night."

Gritting his teeth, he nodded, biting back all possible retorts. "I'll pick you up at-"

"No," she said, shaking her head as she reached out to run a slender finger down his chest. "_I'll_ pick _you_ up at seven."


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

"For you," Elizabeth murmured, holding out a bright yellow tulip – root and all – to Jason when he opened the door to his penthouse. She'd gotten so nervous outside his building and knew she needed an icebreaker of some kind, and well, she was _taking him_ on a date, so a flower was appropriate.

"Thanks," he laughed, looking pointedly at the root and shaking his head. "There are security cameras in front of the building."

Her mouth fell open and she placed a hand against her chest. "Are you implying what I think you're implying?" she asked coyly, grinning at his relaxed attire of jeans and a black t-shirt. She almost snickered at the thought of Jason pouring over what color t-shirt to wear just as she had done with every item in her closet.

"Unless the florist on Main Street is going about business in a new way," he replied, stepping back from the door to delicately lay the flower on his desk.

"Well, when the designated flower thief comes after me, you'll just have to let me borrow that fancy lawyer of yours," she said, leaning against the doorway. She refused to come inside, knowing that if she did, they'd never leave, and the entire purpose of having a date would be defeated.

"I'll be your alibi," he muttered, folding his arms awkwardly over his chest, clearly not sure of what else to do. "You know, those security cameras – the tapes are always so fuzzy anyway."

"And just what were we doing at the time of this supposed theft and damage to private property?" she asked curiously, brushing her loose curls away from her face. He grunted, looking away from her, and she found herself blushing too. "I should have known…"

"What?" he asked, laughing again as she shifted her eyes back to his.

"Pervert," she replied, flashing him a saucy smile. "What makes you think I'm that kind of girl?"

He arched an eyebrow as he slowly walked towards her. "We'll just have to see what happens," he muttered, snaking his arm around her waist and pulling her against him. Pressing his lips to hers, he kissed her gently, but with just enough force to leave her breathless. "You look beautiful."

"Jason," she sighed, burying her face in his t-shirt, not used to such flattery.

"You do," he repeated, brushing his lips against her temple as his hands roamed over her back.

Rolling her eyes, she tilted her head back and looked up at him. "I look like I always do," she said, trying to forget that it had taken her hours to find something revealing, but that didn't show too much, and still made her feel comfortable.

Elizabeth had picked Jason up for countless things; doctors appointments, designated driving, even dinner and a movie. She had dressed for these occasions, throwing on whatever items she believed were clean and didn't smell terribly bad, never hesitating to pull her hair into a messy bun or let her wild curls hang in tangles down her back. Sometimes she showered and sometimes she didn't, and she sure as hell didn't worry about shaving her legs, _let alone waxing._

She decided to keep it simple for tonight, not wanting to overdo it; a simple green blouse with a semi-low neckline, jeans, a pair of sandals, and a head of messy, wild curls. After all, Jason had seen her dressed up and down to nothing but a pair of lacy underwear. Knowing him as well as she did, she knew he wouldn't have minded if she'd shown up with nothing on.

"You always look beautiful," he murmured, kissing her again, his hands fisted in the soft material of her blouse.

"Jason," she panted, placing her hands flat against his chest and pushing herself away from him, suddenly very thankful that she'd shaved her legs. She really had spent a good hour debating on whether not to, not wanting to be too easy, but she'd be lying to herself if she didn't expect to end up in his bed – _or hers _– by the end of the night.

"Sorry," he said, scrubbing a hand nervously over his face as if he'd done something wrong.

"It's okay," she replied, reaching out to pull his hand away. "I just…" She blushed, torn between throwing herself in his arms and pulling him out the door, but told herself she had to do the latter. That was just how it was supposed to be. "Dinner first." Her voice was anything but firm, and when he looked her up and down, she felt her knees go weak. "Later, we can…have dessert."

"Stop," Elizabeth murmured, her tongue snaking out to lick a line of barbecue sauce off her thumb.

Jason bit back a groan, sliding closer to her in the rounded booth in the back of _Eli's_. He wasn't surprised by the place she'd chosen for dinner. It'd been months since they'd eaten there, and he'd spent the last twenty minutes scolding himself for never realizing just how sexy a plate of ribs at _Eli's_ could be.

"Seriously, stop it."

"I can't help it," he said, popping a fry into his mouth as she rolled her eyes.

He was honestly surprised with how at ease the two of them were. So much of the last week had been filled with tension, much of it very sexual, and he wasn't sure how to feel. It could have easily been lust, but being next to her like this, just having dinner and being able to admire her up close felt _natural_. He found himself wondering why they hadn't made it this far before and how he'd overlooked her all these years.

"Jason," she scolded, tossing a dirty napkin at him.

"So…" He started, not exactly sure what to follow it up with.

"Oh, this is ridiculous," she said, shaking her head at their silent banter of suggestive looks and knowing glances that they'd been shooting each other's way for the last forty-five minutes.

"What?" he asked, taking another drink of his beer.

"You cannot think of one thing to say to me?" she asked, folding her arms over his chest.

"I can think of a lot of things," he smirked, arching an eyebrow.

"You are such a pervert," she laughed, looking away from him.

"Fine," he said, holding his hands up and leaning against the leather back of the booth. She stared at him expectantly, waiting.

He really did hate her _sometimes._

"Uh, what are…what are you going to do with all the money you made from your paintings last week?" he asked, going with the first thing that came to mind.

She smiled softly, shrugging half-heartedly as she contemplated her answer, and he knew it'd been a good place to start. "Buy more paint supplies," she offered, biting her lip. "I haven't really thought about it."

"Really?" he asked surprised. "You always seem to have a plan for things."

"Jerk," she muttered, grinning at his teasing. "I haven't thought about it in so long. I mean, for a while I never imagined I'd actually sell a painting, and I sure as hell didn't expect to last week." She propped her elbow on the table, resting her chin in her hand. "Jason, when the gallery owner called me and said seven paintings were bought, I nearly fell over. I still don't understand it. Why would someone want something I made?"

"Because they're amazing," he murmured, making it simple.

"You can't see all the mistakes."

"You can't see how good they are."

"You're biased," she argued, stirring her straw around in her water.

"You're delusional."

Her eyes darkened and her lips twitched as she fought a grin. "For all of ten seconds, I forgot how annoying you are."

"Likewise," he grunted.

"Asshole."

"You don't mean that."

"Oh, I think I do," she replied, leaning into him as he slipped his arm around her waist. She snuggled against his side, muttering further insults under her breath and laughing to herself.

"Hey," he whispered, brushing his lips over her ear as she reached for her drink.

"What?" she asked, taking a sip of her water as she looked over at him.

The second her glass was away from her lips, he pounced, taking her lips in his. She groaned against his mouth as his tongue flicked across her plump lower lip, granting him access to her mouth. His hand skimmed up her thigh, gripping it firmly and pulling it onto his own so he could angle her to face him. She fisted her hands in his t-shirt, tugging him closer as her tongue swirled against his, neither of them paying much attention to their surroundings.

"Oh, sorry," Elizabeth cried, when the waitress cleared her throat impatiently. She wiggled out of Jason's arms, clasping her hand to her mouth.

"We're good thanks," Jason muttered, automatically deducting a dollar or two from her tip for interrupting.

Elizabeth giggled, her face turning bright red beside him, and he couldn't resist leaning over and planting another one her. "Jason, we're in a family environment," she hissed, pulling back so that her lips hovered over his.

"And this is how families are made," he replied, slipping his hand beneath her flimsy blouse and palming her bare side.

"Stop," she pleaded, leaning away from him as she laughed. "You're going to get us kicked out."

Rolling his eyes, he scooted away from her and reached for his beer, glancing at her from the corner of his eye. "What?" he shrugged, taking a long sip. "I stopped."

She wiped her hands off on her napkin and slid over to him, stretching to brush her lips against the side of his mouth. Her tongue snaked out, lapping at the corner of his lips, and he couldn't help but groan.

"What?" she asked sweetly. "You had some barbecue sauce."

"I did?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

She nodded, leaning against him as she traced his lips with her fingertip. "I think you've got some more."

"Elizabeth," he growled, turning his head away from her and waving to the waitress, who hurried over immediately. "We need our check. _Now."_

Sighing, Elizabeth squeezed Jason's hand as they walked slowly through the park, knowing sooner or later he was going to lose his patience.

Her gut was betting on _sooner._

The entire evening had gone so smoothly once they'd gotten over their initial first date jitters. Jason finally stopped grinning at her like a loon, and she was nearing the point that she didn't blush every time he looked at her. It felt right to be snuggled beside him in a cozy booth and to be strolling leisurely through the park hand-in-hand, both of them silently contemplating how the night would end.

It wasn't that she didn't want to go home with him or that she wasn't prepared for what inevitably would happen. She was just scared and nervous, knowing that while she'd spent the entire evening with Jason, he wouldn't be _just Jason_ after they slept together.

Not to mention that Jason Quartermaine's presence still hung between them, and she didn't know how to convince Jason that _he_ really didn't matter, especially when a part of her would always hold onto him.

It was just all so confusing, and she _almost_ hated him for making her feel this way.

"You okay?" he asked, bumping his arm against hers as they walked.

"Yeah," she murmured, feeling like a silly teenage girl as she let go of his hand and looked up at him. "We have to talk, Jason." His face fell, but he nodded understandingly, letting out a shaky breath. "I just…I want it all said and done so we can just let go."

"I know," he said, jerking his head towards the park bench at the end of the path.

She followed him quietly, trying to figure out what exactly to say or do, fearing she'd put her foot in her mouth and all the magic that surrounded them tonight would disappear. "I don't want to make things awkward," she muttered softly, slowly lowering herself to the bench. "But I need you to know…"

"I figured you would think about…," he replied, sitting down beside her, stretching one arm over the back of the bench.

"Not in the way you're thinking," she said defensively, shaking her head in frustration. "I know that you still have questions, and maybe you're as confused as me…" She paused, peeking at Jason through her lashes. "Being with you tonight feels normal and right, like this is how it should have been, and at the same time…"

"You're thinking about _him_," he murmured stiffly, dropping his gaze to his lap.

"Not like that," she repeated, turning to face him so that their knees touched. She picked at the hem of her blouse, not sure how to explain what she was feeling. "I've already told you how I don't want you to be him – that I never did, and I don't see him when I look at you, but I know…" She reached over to place a hand on his knee, thinking that if she touched him, she'd find some kind of comfort. "I told you how I feel, but you haven't told me anything."

He swallowed hard, his hand curling around her shoulder as he tipped his head towards her. "I never wanted to know anything about him, and I never thought I would."

"You do?" she asked curiously.

"Sometimes," he shrugged, his eyes softening. "I don't like that shutting him off hurt you, and I don't like that what you feel could be…" His voice trailed off and he looked away, closing down like he did when he was uncomfortable.

"I should have never voiced my fears until I worked through them," she replied, inching closer to him. "It doesn't feel the same, but yet it does, and I think what it comes down to is that I've only let myself _really_ open up to two people. As odd as it is, those two people are just the same…" She laughed, realizing how ridiculous this must sound.

"It's okay," he said encouragingly, gently stroking her shoulder. "I want to understand what happened, and it frustrates me that I can't."

Sometimes she wondered if she could really explain what Jason Quartermaine meant or what happened or why she'd even hung onto him so desperately. He had been so many firsts; friend, crush, love, and she could explain that over and over and never do it justice. It was something only _he_ could understand, and even if she wanted Jason to see it, he never would.

She shrugged, not sure what to say. "I don't know how to explain it, Jason."

"You don't have to," he replied, cupping her cheek in his hand. "It was between the two of you." He smoothed his thumb over her cheek. "I think I'd just like to have known who you used to be."

Laughing, she shook her head and he dropped his hand from her face. "I think I'm much better now." She settled into the crook of his arm and he held her tighter. "This feels the same, but it's also so new and different, and…"

"What?" he asked, leaning forward so he could look her in the eye.

"You – this, whatever it may be – I find myself wanting it all at once," she admitted shyly, shifting to slide her hand into her jeans pocket.

Elizabeth slipped something out, but balled it into her fist so that he couldn't see it. Pulling away, she sat up, turning so that her leg was draped over his thigh. "I have this box…at my studio...under the couch." She paused to make sure that he was listening. "I packed it up not too long after you woke up from the accident. There are pictures, books, an old jacket, and I never really look through it much, too many memories and all that."

"Very girl of me, right?" she asked, regretting that she'd even admitted to having the box in the first place, but it was true.

That morning she'd gone over to her studio and poured through the box one last time, and while a part of her would always miss him, she didn't pine for Jason Quartermaine or even want him. She'd gone with the intention of taping the box closed and hiding it in her storage closet, and when she'd picked up the hospital bracelet, she just couldn't let it go, and that was when she noticed the name.

Over Quartermaine, Jason had managed to scrawl Morgan, his grandmother's maiden name, the name of the only person from his family who'd ever really accepted him. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed it in all the times over years that she'd stared at the bracelet, and she wondered if it was because she didn't want to see it.

Jason placed his hand over hers, gently prying her fingers apart to pull the thin yellow band from her palms. "You saved it," he murmured knowingly.

"You knew?" she asked, definitely regretting ever having brought it up in the first place.

"You cut it off and put it in your pocket at the hospital," he shrugged, giving her a crooked smile. "I figured it was something to you – something that belonged to Jason Quartermaine."

"I always told myself I kept it because it was the last thing that ever him," she said softly, smiling as his hand slid over her thigh, giving her a light squeeze. "And then I was thinking that, as silly as it sounds, maybe I held onto it…because in a way, it was the first thing that belonged to Jason Morgan."

"Or maybe I'm just trying to prove something to myself," she continued nervously. "I don't want you to think-"

"You don't have to prove anything to me," he interrupted, tucking the bracelet back into her palms. "I wanted you to be clear about what you felt." He brushed her curls from her face, tucking them behind her ear. "I didn't want you to have any regrets or to think that what you felt was connected to him or Johnny or anyone else."

"It's not," she said quietly, defending her emotions coming as an instant reaction. "I've just been so afraid. Everything's changed, and the last time that happened…" He nodded, tugging her towards him, his hand still gripping her thigh. "I want this. I do."

"Then forget about everything else," he whispered, leaning over to press his lips to hers. "Come home with me."

Every worry she had faded with his touch, and she smiled against his mouth as she slid her arms around his neck. "I thought I was the one taking you on the date," she said seriously. "I drove and would have paid for dinner if you hadn't been so sneaky and switched the credit cards on me – therefore I should get to choose-"

"Just this once don't fight me," he repeated, placing a finger against her lips. "Come home with me."


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Elizabeth bit her lip nervously, looking over at Jason as she followed him into his penthouse. She'd been overly quiet on the walk back to the car and the ride back to his building, and he was worried that maybe she was having second thoughts. Or worse, that she felt like she had to come home with him and actually have to _do_ something, but that wasn't the case. He really just wanted her with him, mostly because he didn't want the night to end.

Sighing, he rubbed a hand over the back of his neck as he leaned down to flick on the lamp setting atop the end table, but she placed her hand over his wrist. "Elizabeth," he murmured, turning to face her, but she just shrugged and dropped her hands to grip his t-shirt. "Are you sure?"

"Isn't it what you want?" she asked softly, looking up at him with wide blue eyes.

"I want what you want," he replied, not wanting to pressure her in any way. His hands settled over her hips and he slid a finger into her belt loop on either side of her waist.

Her eyebrow arched and a sneaky grin spread across her lips. "Are you sure about that?" she asked, running her hands up his chest. "It could turn out to not be what you expected."

He grunted as she dropped her hands to his waist, slipping them beneath his t-shirt. She grazed his stomach with the back her hand and he found himself biting back a groan. He knew Elizabeth well enough to know that if she was going to sleep with him, it wouldn't be quick and to the point. She'd drag it out, make it painful, and probably leave him for dead in the aftermath.

"I think I can trust you," he replied, squeezing her hips as he jerked her towards him.

"Oh, if I had a dollar for every man who's ever-"

His mouth crashed over hers, his tongue slipping between her parted lips to meet hers. When he tore his lips from her mouth to catch his breath, he pressed his forehead to hers, looking her in the eye. "Don't ever talk about other men."

She tossed her head back as she laughed, and he found himself only able to focus on her red, swollen lips, desperate to have them against his again. "I think I can agree to that," she said, laughing again as he pulled her against him and moved towards the couch.

Fisting her hands in his t-shirt, she jerked him down on her as she tumbled to the cushions, letting out a pained groan when his body crashed against hers. Somehow she managed to elbow him hard in the stomach, while hitting him in the chin.

"Not smooth, Jason," she growled, sighing pleasantly when he shifted his weight above hers.

"You started it," he hissed, rubbing his palm against his chin, holding himself above her with his other. "Dammit, Elizabeth."

"Aw, poor baby," she said, sitting up on her elbows and sticking out her lower lip.

"Don't patronize me," he replied, rolling his eyes as she reached out to touch his chin, clucking her apologies under her tongue.

"Stop being such a boy," she murmured, jerking his hand from his chin as she gave him a hazy-eyed grin. "I can make it better."

"Oh, yeah?" he asked, planting his forearms on either side of her head.

"If I must," she teased, slipping her hands beneath his shirt. "After all, I-"

"Shut up," he interrupted, dropping his mouth to hers and kissing her hard.

Sliding her arms around him, she pulled his body down to hers, forgetting any need to protest. She let out a flustered groan as his mouth slowly moved from hers, his lips brushing over her cheek, before settling against the curve of her neck. Her eyes fluttered closed as his tongue lapped at her creamy skin, and Jason let out a groan of his own as the feel of her skin, her smell, everything about her consumed him.

"Jason, wait," she panted, pressing herself into the cushions as his hands slipped beneath her shirt.

He growled against her neck, refusing to let her stop him and skimmed his hands over the smooth skin of her sides. She relented briefly, reveling in the warmth of his palms, but still tried to stop him.

"Jason, you asshole, I said wait," she hissed, bucking her hips up against his, her body colliding with his in a not-so-welcoming way.

"Son of a bitch," he groaned, pushing himself away from her with a grimace. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Rolling her eyes, she pulled her legs away from him, stumbling to her feet. "What do you mean what is wrong with me?" she asked, straightening out her clothes and tossing her messy curls from her face.

He glared pointedly at the couch, his face still twisted in pain.

"Come on, Jason," she said, giving him a crooked smile as she backed away from the couch. "What kind of girl did you think I was?"

"No," he grunted, slowly moving to his feet. "This teasing shit is-"

"Just because you bought me dinner and took me for a walk in the park – both ideas that were mine," she cut in, bracing one hand against the end table as she reached down to tug off one of her sandals. "Doesn't mean-"

"You're not funny," he said, stepping towards her.

She backed away in a hurry, slamming herself against the wall at the foot of the stairs. "I've always told you not to be one of those jerks-"

"Not even a little funny," he replied, placing his hands against the wall on either side of her head.

She leaned down to pull off her other shoe, his hand following her just in case she decided to dip and run. "Seriously, Jason?" she asked, smirking as she stretched to press a chaste kiss to his lips. "Did you think I was going to let you do me on the couch where you've done God knows how many women?"

_Okay, he'd give her that one. _

"I don't trust you to do me anywhere down here," she continued, working her lip thoughtfully between her teeth. "Who knows-"

"Pool table's safe," he cut in, arching his eyebrows.

"How do you know?" she asked, glancing over at it from the corner of her eye. "Ritchie and I-"

"I'll fire him," he interrupted, trying to grab her arm as she dipped below it and started up the stairs, having clearly distracted him.

"I'm kidding," she murmured, turning around halfway up the stairs, her hands gripping the hem of her blouse. "If I'm doing anyone on a pool table…" She paused, whipping her shirt over her head and revealing the mounds of her creamy breasts that were wrapped in a very lacy black bra. "I promise it'll be you."

She laughed, flinging her shirt at him before turning around and hurrying up the stairs. She had to be trying to kill him. There really was no other explanation.

"Elizabeth," he groaned, tearing up the steps after her and coming to a halt as he rounded the corner to find her standing in the middle of the hallway.

"Yes?" she asked sweetly, her shaky hands fumbling with the snaps of her jeans.

Once they were finally undone, she shimmied out of them, making a show of sliding her hands down her legs as she pushed them off. Her underwear matched her bra – if you could call it that. It was more so a scrap of lace that barely covered anything.

_Not that he was complaining. _

She cleared her throat, planting her hands on her hips as she looked at him expectantly. He waited a second longer before jumping her, growling his disapproval when she tried to run away again, only this time he didn't let her.

"Not funny," he snarled, pushing her up against the wall at the top of the stairs.

"It's a little funny," she whispered, sliding an arm around his neck and tugging his mouth to hers.

He wrapped his arms around her, running his hands over the silk of her skin, suddenly frustrated that he was still clothed. As if sensing his annoyance, or maybe having some of her own, she gripped his t-shirt, breaking their kiss to tug it over his head. He jerked her right back into his arms, and she hissed against the warmth of his body, her hands going straight for his belt buckle.

"Jason," she gasped, when one of his hands snaked up her back to fumble with her bra clasp.

"What?" he asked, nuzzling his face into her curls and breathing her in. She arched her back, pressing her hips to his as she reached around to undo the bra. His eyes lifted to hers, reflecting her own desire, and she let out a chuckle as she slid the straps down her arms.

"I'm the one doing the undressing," she murmured, dropping her bra to the floor as his eyes roamed over her.

Sucking in a breath, his eyes quickly roamed over her bare skin, the perfect swell of her breast, and he found himself unsure of what to do.

He wanted it all – _then and there._

"That includes you," she whispered, batting his hands away as he started to unbutton his jeans.

Her eyes on his, she slowly lowered the zipper of his jeans, not-so-subtly pressing her hand against him. Groaning, he braced one hand against the wall to hold himself up, doing his best not to pull away as she slid one hand into his boxers to stroke him, and pushed his pants down with the other.

He stiffened as she dropped to her knees, taking his pants with her. Her hands skimmed back up his legs, molding his muscles to her palms, before finally pulling his boxers away. Closing his eyes, he buried his face in the crook of his elbow, telling himself he could let her have her fun now, that soon enough he'd get his.

Except there was _nothing._

Shifting his face against his arm, he peeked down at the floor below him, surprised to find that she wasn't there. He dropped his hand from the wall, swearing under his breath. His head jerked down the hall when he heard her giggling, and he nearly fell to the floor at the sight of her standing between the two bedrooms – his and hers – her scrap of underwear hanging on the tip of her finger.

There was just enough light in the hallway for him to see the outline of her body, the shadow of her breasts, the smoothness of her curves. Despite the fact that she was teasing the hell out of him, he could only think about how beautiful she was and the fact that she was all his.

Sighing, she leaned back against the wall, twirling her underwear around her finger. "Where will it be, Morgan?" she asked, looking pointedly between the two bedrooms.

Taking a deep breath, he slowly made his way down the hallway. "Where do you think?" he asked roughly, jerking the underwear from her finger to toss the lace over his shoulder. Leaning in, he pressed his body against hers, his lips touching her ear. "I bring all the women home to the guest room."

"Jason Mor-"

She was cut off when he kissed her roughly and cradled her body to his as he pulled her in the direction of his room. Her legs hit the edge of the bed and they tumbled clumsily, their bodies slamming against one another.

"I don't think either of us are very smooth," she laughed, her hands roaming over the tight muscles of his shoulders as she looked up at him.

"I'll make up for it," he muttered against her mouth.

His hands stroked over her skin; the curve of her shoulder, the silk of her stomach, the creaminess of her thighs, and he felt like he was drowning in her. Murmuring his appreciations, he slowly moved down her body, leaving a blazing wet trail with his tongue.

"Jason," she moaned, raking her fingers through his hair and trying to lead him where she wanted him, but he bucked, refusing to do what she wanted after all the teasing she'd done.

His lips brushed over her shoulders, his tongue snaking out to lap at her skin as he made his way down her chest, gently kissing the mounds of her breasts. Nuzzling his face against them, he slid farther down, his hands still stroking her skin as his mouth moved against her. Elizabeth withered beneath him, pleading for him to really touch her, but he ignored her, chucking against her body. Letting out a cry of frustration, she shifted below him, deciding to take matters into her own hands as she slid her hand between his legs, gripping him tightly.

"You're cheating," he hissed, lifting his head to look up at her.

Her smoldering eyes met his as she pumped him in her hand. "You're not giving me what I want," she said, challenging him to give in or hold out. He couldn't decide which.

Grinning, he moved back over her, pressing his forehead to hers. "And just what do you want?" he asked, doing his best to ignore her silky palm as it moved around him.

"What's wrong?" she asked, licking her lips. "You can't figure it out? I sure as hell shouldn't have to tell you, Jason."

Arching an eyebrow, he placed a hand over her breast, gently molding it against his rough palm. Her nipple hardened instantly, reaching out and begging to be touched and he couldn't resist lowering his mouth to it. Elizabeth gasped as he rolled the peak between his teeth, and he had to pull her away from him when her grip hardened, but she barely noticed. Seconds later, he moved to her other breast paying it equal attention, and she was all but lost in his arms.

"See?" he murmured, glancing down at the marks he'd left on her breasts. "I know exactly what you want."

"Don't go getting a big head now," she panted, trying to catch her breath. "Don't think you know every – Jason!" Her rambling turned into a moan as he slid a hand between her legs, gently stroking her – he figured that was the best way to shut her up.

"What were you saying?" he asked, lowering his mouth to hers. She replied with a moan, her hips thrusting against his hand as she gripped the sheets, well past the point of delirious. Shaking her head, she grabbed his wrist, attempting to tug him away. "Elizabeth?"

"Now," she whispered, peeking at him through her lashes. "Please." It was a request he couldn't deny, stretching immediately to reach for the drawer of the nightstand. "Prepared, huh?"

"Always," he said, tearing the box open with his hands.

"New too," she murmured softly, still trying to catch her breath. "That's awfully presumptuous of you, don't you think?"

"Like you didn't know where this was headed," he replied, shaking the foil packets out on the mattress.

"Now that's very presumptuous," she said, glancing at the stack on the bed.

"Oh, I have plans," he replied, ripping the foil open with his teeth.

"Are you supposed to do that?" she asked, frowning at him. "I mean, it's not-"

"Elizabeth."

"Well, it's not," she laughed, holding a hand over her face. "Oh, God. Jason, are we really doing this?"

"Yes," he answered firmly, tossing the condom aside and grabbing another one. He wasn't going to give her the chance to pour over the possibilities and reasons why they shouldn't. "Here." She just looked up at him. "What? I don't want you telling me I did it wrong or-"

This time he was cut off by her mouth as she jerked him down towards her. Shifting below him, she spread her legs and he settled between her hips, as she fumbled with the wrapper and hurried to slide it over him. He groaned into her mouth as her fingers stroked him. When she was satisfied, she lifted her hands to his hips and pulled their mouths apart.

"There," she said, sounding pleased.

"You're not always going to get it your way," Jason replied, lifting one of her legs to wrap around his waist.

"Oh, no," she agreed, arching her hips in anticipation when she felt him against her. "I'll let you have a turn every now and then."

"Damn right you will," he groaned, thrusting his hips forward and sinking inside her.

Elizabeth's fingers dug into his hips as she let out a low moan, her body surging upward to curl against him. He wrapped his arms around her as he steadied their rhythm, burying his face in her hair; still disbelieving this was actually happening.

That he was here with Elizabeth, like _this,_ and that it could be _this_ good.

"Jason?" she asked suddenly, craning her neck to try and look at him.

"Yeah," he groaned, when she lifted her other leg around him, forcing him in deeper.

"You didn't really bring any girls home and sleep with them in my-"

"You are not thinking about that now," he growled, lifting his head to look at her.

She looked embarrassed as she nodded. "You said-"

"No," he grunted, taking her mouth in his, and kissing her long and hard as he picked up the speed of his thrusts. She quickly forgot anything else and glided her hands up to his shoulders to cling to him as he moved.

Breaking the kiss, he nudged his way down to her breasts, determined to shake whatever thoughts she had in her head- honestly with the way her mind worked, he wasn't sure he wanted to know. It would be easier to make sure it was just impossible for her to think.

Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fisted her hands in his hair as his tongue flicked over her nipple, then tugged the peak between his teeth, nipping it gently, before starting all over again. She clenched around him, her release building so quickly that it left her trembling, and he moved to slip a hand between them, seeking out the tiny bud between her legs. His name burst from her lips the moment he touched her, her eyes flashing open and searching for his. Seeing the desire in her eyes, he sped up his movements, stroking her faster and harder, forcing her to burst apart in his arms before allowing himself to let go and fall into her.

Silence filled the room, just the sounds of their steady breaths and heartbeats as Jason rolled off her, hooking his hand behind her knee and pulling her over on top of him. She shifted her body to settle against him, smiling faintly at the contrast of their bodies next to one another.

"Jason?"

"Yeah?"

She tipped her head back to look up at him, her cheeks flushed. "You never answered my question."

"Huh?"

"About the women in my room?"

"Elizabeth," he growled, rubbing a hand over his eye.

"Well, I think I deserve an ans – Jason!" she cried out, when he suddenly rolled them back over, pinning her beneath him.

"I can't believe you're bringing this up right now," he murmured, pressing his mouth to hers. She grinned briefly, then pouted, still unsatisfied with his answer. "And no, I never slept with anyone in your – in the _guest_ room."

"Well, in that case," she grinned, stretching to grab one of the many condoms he'd dumped on the bed, and hold it up to him. "Why don't you start showing me some of these plans?"

Hours later, Elizabeth was curled up against Jason's side, her head on his shoulder as she traced circles across his chest. His eyes fluttered open and closed as he skimmed his hand along her spine, holding her against him. They hadn't talked much, except to make demands…and tease…and argue…and make up, but the making up was by far the best part, and she found herself wondering why they'd never made up in such a way before.

Things were different now – she knew this, had expected to feel something, but instead she felt nothing. It felt like it always had; comfortable and safe, but those feelings had strengthened, almost too intensely, and she wasn't sure what to feel. Sniffling, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, not sure what the hell had come over her, and she was hoping that Jason wouldn't feel the tears again his skin, but of course he did.

"Elizabeth, are you okay?" he asked, lifting his head. She nodded, moving away from him as he rolled onto his side so that he was eye to eye with her.

"Yeah, I'm sorry," she replied, her eyes welling up with tears. "I don't know what came over me. I just…" He started to reach out for her, but tensed up, and it was only when she grabbed his hand that he seemed to relax. "It's not this…I mean, it is – I just – I haven't been with someone that I really care about in a long time. I guess I got a little freaked out."

He grinned, leaning over to kiss her forehead. "It's okay. I figured you had to go all girl on me at some point, Webber."

"Oh, stop," she whispered, wiping at her face as he pulled her against him. "The last thing a guy wants is a woman crying after-"

"I didn't realize I was that good," he cut in, chuckling when she smacked him on the shoulder.

"I hate you," she said, looking up at him.

"I hate you more," he replied, kissing her again on the forehead.

Rolling her eyes, she placed a hand on his cheek, gently stroking his face. "I just think so much has happened, and it hit me all at once. You know, whatever I felt or thought I felt for Johnny, and now this."

"Do you…regret anything?" he asked nervously, and she couldn't help but laugh.

"Are you going all worried boy on me?" she teased, running her thumb across his lower lip. "No, I don't regret this. Last year, with Johnny…I was afraid. I wanted something to hold on to. And when he came back with Lulu, I just freaked…It's not like he I expected him to wait an entire year for me – I sure as hell didn't wait for him."

She winced, realizing she was referring to other men, but that also included Johnny, and she figured Jason wanted to hear this. "I've always had these stupid relationships with men I know aren't available, which is funny when I think about it because _you_ were the most available of them all."

"You were always around. I could trust you regardless of how close we were or weren't, and I knew you weren't going anywhere." She shrugged, dropping her hand to his neck. "Maybe that's why I was so afraid. I could take losing Lucky, Zander, Jax…Any of those idiots that I allowed myself to be with, but if I lost you…"

"Or Johnny," he tossed in.

"Johnny too. I need you both, but there was a time in my life when I didn't need him as much, and that's happened again," she confessed quietly. "I thought I did, but you'd been here the entire time he was gone. I was just too afraid of – of everything. I still am."

Jason swallowed hard, nodding understandingly. "I'm not going anywhere."

"I know," she replied, holding his face in her hands, "but he wasn't really either – and I'm sorry to bring him up. It's just a stupid fear that I can't get past and-"

"It's okay," he cut in, gently pulling her hands away. "To bring him up. To be afraid. To think about the past. I don't want you to shut any of that off, but I do want you to give me the chance to assure you that I'm not going anywhere."

"Yeah, I know, but after tonight, everything's changed."

"Or not," he argued, swiping his thumb over her cheek. "Think of it this way, if it fails, we go back to hating one another and driving each other crazy – just without the sex."

She couldn't help but grin and think that maybe he was right. "And if it does work out?"

He shrugged, leaning over to kiss her. "Then every time you sleep over, you're in my bed."

"Oh, I like that," she murmured, sliding her arm around him and rolling onto her back as she pulled him over her. "Except sometimes you have to sleep over with me too."

"Yeah, yeah…It's always a give and take with you."

"Oh, please," she murmured against his mouth. "Like you'd have it any other way."


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

"Oh, and did I tell you I managed to get that God awful cherub ice sculpture she saw and liked?" Elizabeth murmured, groaning when Jason just nodded and continue to brush his lips against the curve of her neck. "Are you listening to anything I'm saying?"

"Do you have to talk about that right now?" he asked, causing her to roll her eyes as he grinned against her shoulders, his fingers hurrying to undo the buttons of her blouse that she'd just barely finished buttoning.

"I told you I needed your help with some things," she replied, leaning into him as he gently shoved her shirt halfway down her arms. "And you promised to help."

"Yeah, over dinner or after work," he reminded her, lifting his head long enough to look her in the eye. "Not on lunch breaks."

Laughing, she shook her head as he lowered his mouth to hers, continuing what had been their lunch break routine for the last week. It had also been their breakfast and dinner routine, and she didn't really know whose fault it was that they seemed incapable of keeping their clothes on when they were in the same room. She'd abandoned most of her matron of honor duties, and with Johnny and Lulu returning that evening, she was scrambling to get everything done.

Of course, that didn't stop her from going to the warehouse to meet Jason for lunch with a brand new, leather desk chair in tow, forcing them to spend an adequate amount of time breaking it in. It wasn't her fault that she'd been shopping for new furniture for the art gallery when she noticed a desk chair that had Jason's name all over it. Not to mention that the look on his face when she came wheeling it through the door was completely priceless. His eyes lit up immediately and he all but shoved Ritchie out the door, tossing her into it seconds later.

Thankfully, she'd had the man at the store check the nuts and bolts _very_ closely.

"Jason," she half scolded, half moaned, as he tugged her shirt off her arms, leaving her on the edge of his desk in nothing but a lacy, red bra and all too short skirt. The skirt, of course, had been a requirement for the chair. She'd remembered the protocol very well, and Jason seemed pleased.

"I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong," he murmured, his tongue tracing a blazing path up to her ear, where he slid it around the shell of her ear. "You really shouldn't want to talk about this right now."

Grinning, she couldn't help but give in somewhat, not fighting him as he fumbled with the snap of her bra, her own hands slipping beneath his t-shirt and smoothing over his tight muscles. "I thought the chair would be enough," she said, barely getting the words out before she moaned as he cupped her bare breast in his hand.

"We still have the desk," he replied, tugging on her earlobe with just enough roughness, causing her hips to surge forward. "The walls…the door…filing cabinets…the floor."

"You had me at filing cabinet," she said, pushing him away long enough to pull his shirt over his head. "But _never_ on this floor."

He shook his head and stepped forward to slip his arms back around her. "What?" she laughed, stretching her neck to kiss him. "It's a step up from the bar."

"You're so ridiculous," he murmured against her mouth, lifting her legs to wrap around his waist before shoving her skirt up what little bit of her thighs it covered.

"I am not-"

"Shut up," he cut in, holding a finger over her lips. "Just for ten minutes."

"Oh, that's all you've got?" she asked, undoing the snap of his jeans and lowering the zipper.

"That's about all you have left on your lunch," he replied, groaning as she slipped her hand into his pants. "Looks like you might be-" He stopped mid-sentence when the door to his office flew open, and Ritchie stood in the doorway holding a pile of mail in his hands. His eyes widened as he looked from Elizabeth to Jason, then back to Elizabeth as a wide grin spread across his face.

"What the hell are you doing, Ritche?" Jason cried, as Elizabeth stiffened against him, pressing her face into his chest, and praying that he wasn't seeing more of her than he already had. She slowly pulled her hand from his pants and grimaced as she zipped him back up. It was safe to say the moment had definitely passed. "What the-"

"Mail," he gulped, leaning into the room to set the pile in the chair by the door. "I hadn't heard from you in an hour or so. I figured you and Elizabeth went out to-"

"Get the hell out of here!" he growled, trying to pull Elizabeth's shirt over her bare back, but she was sitting on it.

"Uh, I'm sorry boss," he said, scrambling to grab the doorknob and pull the door closed.

"You should have let me fire him," Jason spat, stepping away from the desk as she slid off to lower her skirt.

"He's harmless."

"You just like the attention."

Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh as she grabbed her bra from the floor and shrugged it over her arms. "Why didn't you lock the door?" she asked, stretching her arms around to snap it. She adjusted herself, rolling her eyes when Jason stopped long enough to zero in her on her breasts. "Hello?"

"What?" he asked, lifting his eyes to her face. "The door…I don't know. You came in with that chair and…"

"So it's my fault?" she asked, tugging her shirt over her arms and hurrying to do the buttons as if waiting for Ritchie to come bursting through the door again.

Shaking his head, he snatched his t-shirt off the desk and slid it over his head. "No, I'll take the blame since last time was my fault."

She couldn't help but blush and look away when she thought about how two days ago Jason had shown up at the gallery when she was working late. They were featuring a new artist and all the paintings had just been dropped off, and Elizabeth had been bearing the brunt of the work. She'd been so stressed out about having to do everything on her that Jason stopped by with a bottle of wine and dinner. Somehow, they'd ended up barely clothed on the middle of the floor, only to have her boss walk in.

Needless to say, Jason was asked not to visit his girlfriend at work anymore.

_Girlfriend. _

The title usually made Elizabeth squirm. It not only meant that she was now sharing her life, her apartment and her things with someone, and that they were doing the same in return, but that she had to always think about them before she did anything.

None of which she was good at.

She liked having her own life, her own apartment and her own things, and most of the time sharing them only blew up in her face. She was always left alone with way less than she started with, and she had to start the terrible relationship process all over again.

Jason, however, had been very, _very_ different. Her life, apartment and things were as much _his_ as they were hers and it was a seamless transition. Everything about their relationship just felt so natural.

Usually when a man slept over, she stayed up all night wondering if he was going to leave the next morning or just make himself at home on into the afternoon. Jason was up with the sun, waking her with a cup coffee in his hand, and if they managed to keep their clothes on long enough, they would lay in bed and read the paper before hurrying out the door to work. It wasn't weird to come home and find him on her couch or in her kitchen, and she honestly looked forward to it at the end of the day.

And he had been the first man, aside from Jasper, who actually wanted her to spend time at his place. She was used to the men she dated keeping their apartments as a sanctuary – not that she minded because they were either filthy or housing his _other_ girlfriends.

Yeah, she'd had a couple of those in her time.

"You're going to be late," he murmured, grinning as she stooped beneath the desk and looked around.

"I can't find my underwear," she replied, crawling out from under it and looking up at him. He gave her a devious smile, but didn't offer up any information. "Jason, you perv."

He shrugged and sat back down in his new chair. "I liked them."

"I can't go back to work without underwear," she scolded, sliding her folder of wedding plans into her purse.

"Sure you can," he said, sliding his chair up to the desk as she leaned against it. "Just don't bend over."

"I hate you," she replied, shoving her curls from her face as she leaned over to kiss him.

"I hate you too," he murmured, sliding his arms around her waist and pulling her into his lap.

She laughed and smacked his hand away as it slid beneath her skirt. "Do I have to wear pants around you?" she asked, tearing her mouth away from his.

"It's probably a good idea," he replied, squeezing her thigh and causing her to smack him again.

"You're sending me back to work all riled up. It's just not fair," she pouted, pushing herself up from his lap.

"You're leaving me all riled up," he said, leaning back in his chair and letting his eyes roam up and down.

"I really do hate you," she hissed, laughing as she grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

"No, you don't," he replied smugly, flashing a cocky smile as he started to rearrange the things on his desk.

"No, I don't," she admitted, causing his eyes to lift to hers in her surprise. They spent so much time teasing one another that it was rare to have a true confession about how one of them felt, but it was true.

"I'll see you tonight," he said, collecting the pen holder and its contents that had fallen wayside when he pinned her down on the desk.

She grinned, unable to hide how felt it good to know that there was a tonight and it wasn't about them getting beers or watching some bad reality TV show she adored. It was about them being together, and the fact that Jason no longer complained about what they watched helped too.

"Tonight," she called over her shoulder, hurrying out of the office before she found herself on the other side of the desk and unable to leave.

Jason craned his neck, his eyes following her legs down the hallway. Once she was out of sight, he smiled to himself, and leaned back in the chair as he pulled his desk drawer open. He couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of her scrap of red lace stuffed into one of the compartments.

_Maybe he was a pervert. _

It wasn't his fault she bought the sexiest underwear he'd ever seen, and that the supply of the damn things were endless. Or that she always wore the shortest damn skirts with the highest heels, and it just came together so very nicely. None of this had anything to do with why he was stealing her underwear, but when he looked at Elizabeth he didn't need a reason. It just like something he _should_ do.

God, she really was making him lose his mind. Why else would he have turned into some dirty-minded, panty-stealing pervert?

He wanted to hate her, but couldn't, simply because he'd miss her too damn much. Knowing that she was waiting at the end of the day made time move faster, and he looked forward to coming home to find her on his couch with a beer and watching his TV. He'd even watch that stupid show she loved so much about the stupid girls in stupid California.

She could probably get him to do anything, which was only fair because he was pretty sure she'd do just about anything he wanted, and he liked that the possibilities were endless. Actually, he liked _everything_ about being with Elizabeth. He took the good; her laugh, her constant rambling, how she always made him feel comfortable, and her underwear, just as well as he took the bad; her wet towels, how she always ate off his plate as if it were own, her insecurities, and how she stole his t-shirts because they fit her just right. He'd take every last bit of it without a single complaint.

His phone rang, causing him to sigh, and he was forced to shove aside the high that came from being around her to return to the real world.

"Morgan?" he answered, pressing his phone to his ear.

"Hey, Jason," came Johnny's tired voice.

"I didn't think I'd hear from you until tonight."

"Yeah, I'm a – I'm at the Port Charles Airport now," he replied, clearing his throat.

"You and Lulu catch an early flight?" Jason asked, shoving papers around on his desk and looking for the flight information he had written down. He was pretty sure that they were coming in around dinner. Elizabeth had said something about meeting them at the hotel, but Jason had been preoccupied with _other_ things.

"Not exactly. Uh, I hate to ask, but could you come pick me up?"

"Yeah, sure. What's going on, Johnny?" he asked, getting up from his desk and pulling his keys from his pocket as he headed for the door. "Johnny?"

"Well," he started, letting out a heavy sigh, "let's just say there's not going to be a wedding."


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

"I can't believe this," Elizabeth murmured, sinking down on the arm of the couch. "It just doesn't make sense."

Jason shrugged, letting out a heavy sigh. "Well, if you really know Johnny it does." Her jaw tightened and her eyes flashed to his. "I didn't mean it like that."

She nodded, sliding herself down onto the couch. "I feel so guilty."

"This isn't your fault," he said, glancing towards the stairs as he made his way over to the couch and sat down beside her.

"It could be," she replied, holding her hands over her face. "I wasn't very nice to her, but in my own defense, she wasn't always very nice to me."

He couldn't help but laugh as he slid closer to her and draped his arm over the back of the couch. "You didn't do this."

"You are such a man," she moaned, dropping her head back against his arm and looking over at him.

"Meaning?"

"That Lulu was so desperate for us to like her, to accept her relationship with Johnny," she answered, furrowing her brow in frustration. "No wonder she was always talking about wanting me to like her. Instead, I bitched and whined and snapped at her over everything, which made her feel anything but welcomed."

"Of course I can't tell her I didn't mean any of it because that would mean admitting that I wanted to break them up, and that I was just being a stupid girl," she continued, leaning into the crook of Jason's arm. "And it makes sense now as to why Johnny was so frustrated with me. They weren't accepted by her parents, and he wanted us to, which is the least we could do seeing as we're his best friends."

"You keep saying us," Jason muttered, pressing a kiss against her hair, "but you were the-"

"You're not making me feel any better," she interrupted, smacking him gently in the stomach.

"This isn't your fault," he repeated, curling his arm around her shoulder.

"He needed us," she whispered, gently smoothing her hand over where she'd hit him. "He needed us last fall when he left. He needed us when he came back."

"You're still saying us," Jason teased, trying not to think about how upset Johnny had been when he'd picked him up from the airport.

"I hate you," Elizabeth groaned, burying her face in his side.

He didn't have to see her face to know she was crying and he didn't need her constantly saying it was her fault to know she blamed herself. As soon as Johnny had gotten in the car with a long face and broken heart, Jason knew Elizabeth would carry this. And while she had been rude and condescending, it was all out of jealousy, and she hadn't meant any of it. He had no doubt that she wanted Johnny to be happy, even if it meant him being with someone like Lulu. Sure, she was perfect and polite in a way that made Jason want to curse and mess up her things, but she loved Johnny, and that was what mattered.

Jason had suspected some kind of underlying issue between them when they first came back to town, but Elizabeth was so caught up in her own heartbreak that he didn't dwell on it. Johnny was happy and excited about life, not to mention very sober, and all the problems that he'd had when he left town seemed non-existent. Yeah, he had screwed up a deal or two when he first arrived in Europe, but Jason managed to clean it all up – still was, in fact, and he was thankful that Elizabeth didn't press him about the numbers for the books. He didn't want to have to tell her that Johnny made some mistakes and Jason was paying for it out of his own pocket.

Johnny had offered to sell his half of the business, to give it all to Jason when he lost the first deal last year in London, but there was no way he could let him. His father left him the company, and he was generous enough to bring Jason on, and while he did a lot of the work and knew more about it than Johnny ever did, it wasn't really his company. Besides, Jason owed Johnny's father for how kind he was after his accident, and he wouldn't let his namesake get ruined. That was probably the single reason that Jason put up with his best friend's shit all these years when it came to the business.

"I just don't get it," Elizabeth said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hands. "Lulu talked about her dad loving Johnny, like he was ready to adopt him as the son he never had."

"People lie to themselves sometimes," he replied, lowering his eyes to hers.

"Yeah," she murmured, her cheeks flushing at the list of lies she had following her. "Self-convincing – I've mastered it by now."

"Look, uh, I have to tell you something," Jason muttered slowly, taking a deep breath when he felt her tense up in his arms.

"Something tells me I'm not going to like this," she said, pulling herself out of his arms and pushing herself up from the couch.

"Elizabeth…"

"What?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest and looking down at him.

"Johnny – he didn't leave last year because he wanted to," he replied, shifting his eyes away from her. Sighing, he got up from the couch and turned away from her, suddenly not feeling as if he had the right to even look in her direction. "He left because I made him."

"What?" she asked harshly. "I don't – why would you make him leave?" She raked her fingers through her curls and held her hands at the sides of her head. "What? I don't – are you going to answer me?"

"He was a mess, Elizabeth," he replied, turning to face her. His shoulders slumped in defeat, and he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so disgusted with himself. "You know how he was." Her eyes filled with tears, but she nodded, and Jason knew she understood. "I should-"

"Have told me," she interrupted, sitting down on the couch arm. "I still don't – what was the plan? Was he going to leave and get better and just come back?"

"Yeah," Jason shrugged. "He was drinking too much and screwing up at work. I tried to get him to do rehab here – to just go to Manhattan, but he refused. We had some buyers interested in Europe, so I told him to go to rehab there and once he was out, he could jump right back into work. I would have done anything to get him sober."

"He never really got over his father's death," she whispered, sniffling as she wiped her eyes. "This life – of business and hard work was never what he wanted, and he just didn't know how-"

"He didn't want to," he cut in seriously, doing his best to hold back when Elizabeth made excuses for him.

She _always_ made excuses for him.

"He tried, but Johnny is – that's just how he is."

"Elizabeth."

"That's how he's always been," she glared defensively.

"Sorry, I don't remember," Jason hissed, clenching his fists as he turned away from her.

"I didn't mean it like that, and you know it," she replied, wringing her hands. "You should have told me."

"It wasn't my place," he murmured, debating on whether he should tell her he tried to get Johnny to, but at this point would it make things any different?

"Wasn't your place?" she asked in disbelief. "Didn't you just say that _you_ made him go?"

"Yeah, he had a choice between rehab and losing his father's company," he replied angrily, turning back around. "You always coddled him and made excuses for the stupid choices he made, and maybe I did too because I didn't want to admit how bad he was, but he almost tanked the entire company last year.

I never minded cleaning up his messes, but it got to be too much, especially when he went to Europe and…"

"And what?" she asked, holding her glare. "What did he do that was so bad that you had to send him away? I just don't understand any of this."

"Come on, Elizabeth. He was a stupid drunk, who could sweet talk any rich man out of his money, but he ripped them off more times than I'd like to admit. I should have picked up on it – I should have known what he was doing, but I didn't want to think that Johnny was practically stealing people's money."

"So I covered for him," he continued, placing a hand on his chest. "I used my money to bail out the company and almost went broke in the process. I gave him an ultimatum to either clean up or I'd take him to court to take over."

"He went to Europe and refused to go rehab immediately, deciding he wanted to meet with some investors first. That was how he met Lulu, whose father was all but ready to kill him. He saw Johnny coming a mile away, but Lulu didn't. Somehow they got involved, which was a good thing because she convinced him to go to rehab."

"But he's still drinking," she said, as if that was supposed to make some kind of difference.

"It's Johnny. He's never going to stop drinking, but…"

"Lulu stays on him about it," she filled in, shaking her head at herself in disgust. "I thought she was just being a bitch."

"No, she kept him together."

Elizabeth flinched at his words, her lip quivering. "I knew he needed help, but I thought if I was patient enough and was just there…"

"You could fix him," Jason murmured softly.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" she asked, clearly more hurt by the secret than anything else. "You gave me all that shit for wanting to know what happened to him when you knew all along."

"I knew what I sent him there for, and I only know that he did his stint in rehab like I asked him to, but the details-"

"Don't really matter right now. I just – I would have never kept something like this from you, Jason."

He stiffened. "That's not fair. You and I weren't close until after he left, and I wasn't going to tell you that I sent him away so you could resent me."

"So you lied for your own benefit," she spat.

"Are you trying to find something to be pissed off about?" he asked, throwing his hands up. "I'm sorry I lied to you, but it was Johnny's truth to tell. I had no right-"

"As my friend you did," she interrupted.

"I'm not doing this, Elizabeth," he replied, shaking his head. He _almost_ stopped before he got ahead of himself, but he was too angry to care. "You can be pissed at me all you want. You can blame and hate me. Do whatever it takes not to tarnish Johnny's halo or knock him off that fucking pedestal you have him on."

_This_ was exactly why he hadn't told her, and why he'd been so patient every time she cried and worried over Johnny. He'd been responsible for her heartbreak, so he'd done his best to hold her together every time she fell apart.

"You know you're both really important to me, Jason," she whispered, moving to her feet. "I never meant to put one of you in front of the other, but if you want to be really honest, Johnny wasn't the one on the pedestal. _That was you_. And he knew it, so I just tried to make it up to him."

Jason started to reply, but stopped when he noticed Johnny coming down the stairs, and he had to wonder exactly how much their friend had heard.

"Really, guys, I've been dumped before," he said, rolling his eyes when he noticed how quiet and tense his friends were being. "Operation Save Johnny isn't necessary."

"I, uh, I should go," Elizabeth murmured, giving Jason a long look before heading over to the desk to grab her purse. Without so much as a goodbye she headed out the door, not realizing that Jason was right behind her.

"Hey," he called after her, pulling the door closed behind him and shutting them off in the hallway.

"I really wish you would have told me," she said, hitting the elevator button and tipping her head in his direction. She forced a smile and held out her hand. "I'm not mad, Jason. It's just so much…"

"I know," he replied, tugging her towards him. "I wanted him to tell you, but…"

"It's okay," she said, stretching to gently press her lips to his as she slid her arms around his neck. Sighing, she leaned against him, burying her face in his neck. "I just wish I knew when we all fell apart."

Jason nodded, though he knew they could probably pinpoint his accident as the moment that changed everything. "I promise we'll talk about everything later," he murmured against the side of her face. "I'm going to try and do something with him…and figure this out."

"Okay," she sighed, pulling away when the elevator dinged open behind them. She smiled before stepping inside, and Jason couldn't help himself as he stuck out his arm to stop the doors from closing.

"Are we okay?" he asked nervously, knowing that all of this – Johnny's truth, the end of the engagement, and the kept secret would affect them in some way.

Her lips twitched into a crooked grin. "We've never been better."


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Jason _rarely_ worried about Johnny.

Even when his best friend drowned himself in aged scotch and cheap beer, he didn't worry because he knew that if Johnny was given a choice, he'd make the right one. Despite the fight he'd put up to go into rehab, Johnny had ultimately made the best choicedone what was best, and Jason knew it was Lulu that encouraged him.

This was why sitting beside Johnny at the bar and watching his friend slowly drown himself worried Jason. It was like going back in time to the angry, lost man that O'Brien used to be, and he'd honestly hoped thought they were past that. Without Lulu there was very little will left in his friend, and he Jason had no idea how he to'd hold him together.

"I should have known," he slurred, tossing back a shot and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Those fuckers hated me, but her mother – that fucking bitch – was so nice the past few weeks that Lulu thought they gave in."

"They waited for her to come back," he Jason guessed, sipping his beer.

"Yeah," he confirmed, rocking back and forth on his stool, a shot in hand. "They made her feel so guilty., and , you know, I know I was a fuck up when I met them, but I changed. I stopped drinking. I busted my ass for the business, but they are nothing but a bunch of stuck up fucks, who don't believe in second chances."

"I'm sorry, Johnny," he murmured sincerely, feeling as if it were the worst possible thing he could say. "Maybe Lulu will figure out what _she_ wants, and she'll get over what her parents think."

"Not everyone i's like you," he said pointedly, glaring at Jason. "Not everyone can just walk away from their family and never look back. Her parents were important to her, and all she ever wanted was their approval. Johnny O'Brien _never_ gets the seal of approval."

"I get that you're upset," Jason replied, scratching his brow, "but don't you think that acting like _this_ is the last thing Lulu would want?." He grunted, lifting another shot to his mouth, and Jason quickly added up the empty glasses forto a total of nine. "Johnny, you should slow down."

"Why?" he shrugged, snapping his fingers at Coleman as he stacked the glasses one inside the other. "She's not coming back, and if she does I already promised her I would stay away."

"Why would she come back if it wasn't for you?" he asked curiously, shaking his head curtly at Coleman as the bartender approached.

"She has stuff," he replied, waving at the bartender. "My friend doesn't speak for me. I'm a paying customer, and I want-"

"Two beers," Jason interrupted, sliding his warm beer across the counter. He'd barely touched it, knowing he'd have to drive home, and he just wasn't in the mood for any of this. "No more liquor, Johnny. You need to take a break."

"Whatever," he scowled, hanging his head and scrubbing his face with his hands. "You don't know what it's like. You have _everything._ You always have."

He was so angry, sinister even, and Jason had to bite his tongue to keep himself from exploding. He understood that the two men had been pitted against one another ever since they were kids, but Johnny made the choice to allow that to affect him.

"You have to hold it together to have something," Jason muttered, sliding a ten across the bar as Coleman returned with their beers. The bartender must have sensed that something was going on because he didn't bother to hang around for small talk and quickly retreated to the other end of the bar.

"Don't act like I haven't tried," O'Brien hissed, snatching his beer up from the bar and taking a long swig. "My entire life I've busted my ass to prove something, but it never matters. I never get what I want – the career, the break, or even the girl."

"You almost did though, Johnny. Every single thing you've done in the last year is going to have been for nothing," he pointed out, drumming his fingers against the bar to keep him from hitting his friend in the face. It was usually the only way to get through to Johnny, and Jason wasn't above reminding him what an asshole he could be.

"So why bother trying? Why not give you the business to you? You'll never run it into the ground like my old man said I always would. You can have every big break, and you'll definitely get the girl. She'd _never_ leave you for someone else."

"Is that what this is about?" Jason asked angrily, sliding off his stool. He wasn't going to feel bad about how things turned out with Elizabeth, especially when Johnny walked away from her. "You have to grow up at some point, Johnny, and if you want to get drunk and feel sorry for yourself thean you can do it alone." He started to walk away, but stopped to turn back to his friend. "And just in case you were too drunk to remember what was happening before you left town, you had Elizabeth, and you fucked it up."

"Oh, go to hell, Jason," he snarled, his eyes darkening. "I never had her anymore than any other man in her life did." Smirking, he leaned forward, letting out a laugh. "Don't worry. She'll never be anyone but yours."

He didn't need the confirmation, but his heart still swelled at O'Brien's words. "I never doubted that for a second," he replied smugly, snatching his beer off the bar. "You need to think about what happens if Lulu comes back. Do you want her to find you like this?"

Sighing, Johnny took a long sip from his beer. "Maybe I don't want her to find me at all."

Elizabeth _always_ worried about Johnny.

She'd gotten used to it even before Jason became Jason Morgan and spent most of her youth staying out late and talking Johnnyhim down when he felt the need to do anything erratic. His mother had died when he was young, and his father wasn't exceptionally hard on him, but he expected a lot of from his son, and O'Brien rarely got a break.

Maybe that was why she was always so easy on him. There was pressure from every aspect of his life; his father, his best friend, and himself, and Elizabeth never wanted to be someone who made him feel bad for who he was. She always accepted that he constantly made mistakes and came up short, and now she wondered if that was why he'd fallen. She could have been the one person to get through to him, but she knew focusing on the past wouldn't do Johnny any good now. She had to keep his head above water long enough to make him see that whatever happened wasn't his fault.

"Hey," Elizabeth called out, hurrying over to where Jason stood beside a pool table. A stick was in his hand and his gaze was narrowed at the cue ball, but she could tell he was focusing on anything but the game. "Sorry it took me so long. I was painting at my studio – just trying to come down from it all, and I only stopped when the thunder broke my focus."

"Thunder?" he asked, lifting her eyes to his face. He reached out immediately and smoothed her damp curls from her forehead. "I didn't even hear it or I would have called you."

She shrugged, her eyes sweeping around the bar for Johnny. "It's okay. The drive was just a few blocks, and it's not really storming yet. I didn't have time to get all worked up yet," she replied, frowning as Johnny sauntered over to some poorly dressed blonde at the jukebox. "God, what is he doing?"

"What O'Brien does best – his words, not mine," Jason answered, laying his stick across the table, his eyes still on her face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she murmured, managing a smile. "I'm still wrapping my head around all of this."

"Yeah, me too," he sighed, sliding his arm around her shoulder. "What do we do?"

Nibbling her lip, she leaned into him, closing her eyes long enough to revel in the safety she felt at being in his arms. She wanted to be angry with him, to hold all the secrets he had kept against him, but she couldn't. It was nothing she wouldn't have done for Johnny, and she knew that Jason would have easily accepted the truth when she was ready to tell him.

She just couldn't imagine Johnny being in such a bad place without her, though technically she had been there and done nothing about it. "He'll only hate himself if he wakes up tomorrow with some random woman beside him," she muttered, pressing her face against Jason's chest. "And he'll make a scene if we try to drag him out of here."

"Which will cause a scene and make him even more determined to hurt himself," Jason agreed, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I know it's a lot to ask, but maybe you could talk to him." He smoothed his hand up and down her arm. "I think if anyone can get through to him…"

"Did you two argue?" she asked curiously, tipping her head back to look at him.

"He resents me for a lot of things," he replied, feeling ridiculous that Johnny just couldn't let things go. Jason never wanted the business or the big break or the girl; it just happened, and when good things happened, he knew he had to do his best to hang onto them.

"He's got a lot of misplaced anger right now with Lulu and messing up with work," she sighed, grimacing at her words. "God, I'm not trying to make excuses. It just happens."

"I'm sorry about earlier," he murmured, shifting his eyes to Johnny. "I shouldn't have lashed out and-"

"You were just being honest," she cut in firmly, not wanting him to apologize when he didn't have to. "I made excuses for him for years, and it's time I stop. Everyone else has tried to give Johnny a wake up call, and if Lulu can't be here to do it, I should at least try."

"Thank you," he said, shaking his head as he continued to look at his friend.

"Did he tell you anything more?" she asked, bracing her hands against the pool table, and wondering how to go about pulling Johnny away from the woman who was going to be the next notch in his bed post.

"Just that she broke it off…I don't think he's really that upset with her. He's angry with himself for his first impression on her parents and for not getting another chance."

"Can you blame him? He had something good, and he didn't know how to hang onto it. Sometimes I think he's inept that way. He has to test how durable the people are that come into his life, and when they can't take him at his worst, he gets angry, but they can't see that the anger is directed towards himself."

She stopped as Jason's phone rang, and he immediately became annoyed as he looked at the caller ID. "It's work. I left Ritchie in charge of some things, and I told him to only call if he needed me. Knowing him he's probably-"

"It's okay," she cut in, squeezing his hand as she stretched to press her lips to the corner of his mouth. "Take care of workit. I'll try to get Johnny out of here." He hesitated, but she shook her head, encouraging him to go. "My studio is just a few blocks. I can handle driving there in the rain."

She glanced over at Johnny, who was now buying the blonde a drink at the bar. She was relieved that Lulu was in Europe, well, that's where she assumed she was, and any place was better than seeing the man she loved picking up on someone else to try and get over her. "That is, if I can get him out of here."

"Alright," he sighed, kissing her gently. "I'll see you in a bit."

Elizabeth watched him leave before heading towards the bar, trying to figure out the best way to approach Johnny. If she came on too strong, he'd buck and fight her, but if she was too easy he'd still refuse to leave. She needed the right amount of wit with just enough sass to get him to listen to her, and if all else failed, she'd kick him between the legs and walk away.

"Since you're buying every other girl in the bar a drink, maybe you can buy me one too," Elizabeth said, leaning against the bar and glaring pointedly at the blonde on the other side of O'Brien. "Or do I not count anymore?"

Johnny flashed a crooked grin and looked her over with glassy eyes. "I doubt you'll be going home with me at the end of the night."

"Damn straight," she replied coyly, still staring at the woman. "If I have it my way, you'll be going home with me."

"No can do, Webber," he murmured, shaking his head. "You can't give me what I want."

"And she can?" she asked, pointing at the woman, who was now looking very confused. "Just so you know,know, he's engaged."

"I am not," Johnny snapped, grabbing his beer from the bar. "She left me. She chose her fucking family, who could give a shit about her. If she's not complying with their rules and regulations, she's nothing to them."

"Maybe her family is important to her," Elizabeth argued, thankful when the blonde slowly pulled herself away from them, probably figuring that she was the fiancé, but she wasn't about to correct her.

"_I_ was supposed to be important to her," he corrected, taking a swig from the bottle.

"You are, but so is her family, and right now she's torn between who she loves and the people who have always loved her. You can't fault her for that."

"I don't. I know this isn't her, but she has control over what she does. She can choose me."

"And maybe she will," she said sadly, "but if you don't give her time to figure things out – if you wreck yourself what will she have to come back to?"

"Whatever," he muttered, getting off the stool and looking at her disgustedly. "You and Jason think because you have everything that you know everything too."

Elizabeth dropped her gaze to the floor, not sure what to say because if O'Brien was going to wallow in everything he never had, she wasn't going to be able to stop him.

"Don't do this to yourself," she said, moving to stand in front of him. "Don't go to this place again, Johnny. You've come so far."

"Yeah, I'll go back to being Jason's partner and your're friend and-"

"I can't do this," she interrupted, throwing up her hands. "You created your life, Johnny. The people in it, the job you have – it's all you. Jason and I have _nothing_ to do with that. We're your friends, and we've just tried to hold you together."

"I don't need someone to hold me together., I'm a grown fucking man," he cried, slamming his beer down on the bar so hard that the bottle fell over. Y"I'm a grown fucking man, and you have a lot of room to talk. You've never been able to hold it together. It's always been me or Jason because you can't seem to do _anything_ with depending on some man."

"You son of a bitch," she hissed, her eyes filling up with tears. "I change my mind. Lulu doesn't deserve you."

"This coming from the woman who was so jealous about my engagement that she tried to run my fiancé off," he spat, crossing his arms over his chest. "And you want to talk about deserving? The same could be said for Jason about you. You'll ruin it just like you do every relationship you have because none of them in your life will ever measure up to Jason Quarter-"

"Go to hell," she cut in, her palm landing against his cheek. "Go drown in your booze and your stupid whores, but don't expect Jason or me to clean this up. You're on your own this time, Johnny."

She turned away, rushing towards the door and into the back parking lot. The cool night air mixed with the rain hit her so hard that she almost lost her breath, and she barely made it to her car before she fell apart and burst into tears.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Elizabeth slammed the door to her studio so hard that it rattled the walls behind. Taking a deep breath, she leaned her back against it, shoving her rain- soaked curls from her face.

_Johnny was such a bastard. _

She wasn't sure why she was so surprised by what he'd said to her. It was like Johnny to hurt the people he cared about most in an attempt to bring them down to his level, so he didn't have to sulk in heartbreak alone. She could take his snotty comments and cruelness towards her, after all she'd been putting up with it for years, but she was so sick and tired of hearing about Jason Quartermaine. Sure, she'd used the boy as a crutch for years, fighting to hold onto the boy she loved all the while letting go of him, but that didn't mean other people could too – especially just to hurt her.

"Ugh," she groaned, her phone ringing inside her purse, but she just tossed the bag to the floor as she pushed herself away from the door.

She figured it was Johnny calling to apologize, to try and coax her back to the bar so he would have someone to bitch and moan to, though by the time she got there, he'd be busy with some tramp he'd been trying to pick up.

God, she _hated_ the men in her life.

They were such putzs.

Well, except for Jason, but to be fair he had his shining moments.

Wiping her wet forehead with the back of her hand, she crossed the room to the couch, throwing herself down face first and letting out a shrill scream. It was muffled by the cushions, which was probably why it wasn't satisfying, so she rolled over in an attempt to scream again, but realized she was too exhausted.

So much had happened, and just when she started to feel like she had a grasp on things, Johnny had to fuck it up all over again. She had enough doubts about what she felt for Jason and why, and if he had said all of those things to her, he'd probably said them to Jason. They were both so anxious and concerned about where they stood with one another and if they were feeling the right things, and they needed to figure it out without Johnny's input.

_Stupid fucking boys. _

She jumped on the couch as lightning lit up the room, her stomach churning instantly. "You're not going to do this," she muttered, getting up from the couch to cross the room to the light switch by the door.

"Fucking great," she hissed, when the light failed to come on. She leaned her forehead against the wall, clenching her eyes closed as thunder cracked outside. "I'm so ridiculous."

Sighing, she slowly let herself crumple to the floor, reaching for her purse. She felt stupid calling Jason, knowing he was busy with work and had enough stress with everything going on with Johnny, but she just needed someone who could calm her down.

She smiled to herself as she flipped her phone open and saw that the missed call was from Jason, not Johnny, and pressed the button to call him back.

"Hey," he answered, halfway through the first ring. "You okay?"

"Now I am," she replied, her uneasiness fading at the sound of his voice.

"Things didn't go well?"

"Not exactly. He was angry, and he – he was just mean," she said, feeling awkward, like she was tattling on him. "Was he that way with you?"

"Yeah, but that's just – Oh, shit. The roads are a mess."

"Jason? What's wrong?" she asked, her heart pounding at the stress in his voice.

"There's a wreck on Main Street. The roads are just slick. Don't worry, okay?"

"I'll try," she whispered, suddenly not liking the idea of him being out in the storm.

"Elizabeth?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm fine."

"I know," she murmured, closing her eyes as she rested her head against the wall. "I'm just – just being myself. You're in the middle of a thunderstorm. The electric is out at my studio. I'd feel much better if we were _together_."

"I'm sorry," he murmured, letting out a heavy sigh. "I'll be there soon. I had to go to my penthouse to pick up some paperwork. I was going to drop it back off to Ritchie, but I'll come straight there."

"Jason, you don't have-"

"Or I could just walk. I'm only a few blocks-"

"No, stay in your car," she interrupted, jerking her head towards her door when someone knocked. "Hold on a second. Someone's at the door."

She pushed herself up from the floor, holding her cell phone at her side as she pulled the door open. The building's generator had kicked onoff, and the lights in the hallway gave off a soft glow.

"Johnny," she gasped, looking at her rain- soaked friend. He was shaking from the cold, his eyes red and glassy as he looked at her.

"Come in," she muttered, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him inside. She started to kick the door closed with her foot, but stopped, finding some kind of comfort in the light. "You're soaked."

"Yeah, I walked," he said stiffly, his teeth chattering as he spoke.

"You're so stupid," she hissed, starting for the counter to grab him a towel, and then remembered that Jason was still on the phone. "Hey, I'm sorry. Johnny just showed up."

"Yeah, I heard. At least you have company," Jason replied, sounding calmer than he had before. "I'm still going to come straight there though. So it shouldn't be longer than twenty minutes or so. They're cleaning up the accident now."

Her lips twitched at his words, and she couldn't help but feel shaken by the image of a smashed car in the rain. "I hope no one was hurt."

"Yeah, me too," he sighed, sounding as if he felt guilty for ever mentioning it to her.

"I'm fine. Just drive slow," she said, snapping her phone closed and setting it on the counter. She wanted to continue being angry at Johnny, but he was a mess, and she couldn't rightly let him stand there and drip all over her floor.

Pulling open a drawer, she grabbed several towels and held them out to Johnny. "Why didn't you just call me to come back?" she asked, glaring at him as he wiped one of over his face.

"You shouldn't be driving in the storm," he replied, doing his best to dry himself off. His dropped his shoulders and hung his head. "I'm really sorry, Elizabeth. Everything is such a mess, and I don't know how to deal with any of it."

She nodded, accepting his apology because that was easier than telling him what she really thought. She hurried over to the couch to grab a blanket. "Here, wrap this around you," she muttered, laying it over his shoulders. "Jason will be here soon, and we'll take you back to the penthouse."

Tugging the blanket over his shoulders, she turned him so he faced her and held it together, her hands holding it tightly around him. She caught his eye, saw the sadness on his face, and felt bad for ever being mad at him in the first place. "You're a real piece of work, Johnny," she whispered, pulling the towel from his hand and lifting it to his face. She cringed as thunder struck loudly, feeling embarrassed that Johnny was seeing her like this.

"You okay?" he asked softly.

She nodded, shivering as she thought about the storm. "I just hate…"

"Storms," he filled in, looking at her intently.

"Yeah," she said, taking a deep breath as she tried to drown out the sounds outside. "I hate them." She lifted her eyes to his,; suddenly remembering that she was still a little mad at him. "I hate you more."

"You don't."

"You were a real bastard tonight."

"I'm so sorry, Elizabeth.Everything is just falling aparth," he muttered quietly, closing his eyes as she gently pressed the towel to his cheeks. "I tried. I really did. I tried to be good for her, but I'm just not."

"You are good," she argued, tossing the towel onto the counter and pushing him towards the couch. "Lulu knows that, but acting like this…"

"I really do love her," he confessed, sitting down on the couch only after she pushed him down. "I thought I could be happy with her and…"

"You still can," she said, tucking her knees beneath her as she sat down beside him. "Give her time, and if she loves you half as much as you love her, she'll come back."

Shaking his head, he dropped it back against the couch, clutching the cover around him in his fists. "I screwed up. I fucked everything up – with Lulu, with Jason, with _you."_ Her stomach tightened when his eyes shifted to hers. "I really am sorry."

"Who knew liquor made you so honest?" she asked, giving him a crooked smile. "We all forgive you. We always have."

"Yeah, but I just…I hurt you last year. I let you think that something was going to happen, and maybe it would have, but I would've have ruined you like I do everything else," he said roughly, taking a deep breath. "Lulu was perfect and now…"

"You wouldn't have ruined me," she replied seriously, propping her arm on the back of the back of the couch to rest her head in her hand.

She wanted to know where Johnny got this attitude from, why he never felt like he was good enough, and why he always had to pit himself against everyone else. Sure, he was an idiot and often messed things up more than he made them better, but he had a kind heart and was always there.

"You were my best – my only friend for the longest time," she reminded him, reaching over to poke him in the side. "You held me together after the accident, Johnny. I wouldn't have survived without you. You didn't even really have a chance to grieve because you spent all your time helping me and that is one of the most selfless things anyone has ever done for me."

"Yeah, but then I turned that into something it wasn't. I wanted you, and I don't even have a good reason why."

"I wanted you too," she shrugged, finding it hard to believe how the tables had turned. Before she was drunk and being honest, and now Johnny was. "I just – I didn't want things to change. I didn't want to lose you like I lost Jason Quartermaine."

"But you lost me and found Jason Morgan," he replied, forcing a smile at her. "I always figured it would happen if I could get you two in the room long enough to _really_ talk to each other." He shrugged, picking at the blanket. "It's hard not to be jealous."

"Why?" she asked, arching an eyebrow. "You've got Lulu, who is probably the most perfect girl in the entire world."

"Yeah, but for the longest time someone else was perfect to me," he teased, winking at her and causing her to laugh.

"Just when I was starting to think that the walk in the rain may have sobered your sorry ass up," she said, sitting up and shaking her head.

"I'm being serious, you know," he muttered, reaching out to touch her arm.

"This from the boy who used to pull my pigtails," she laughed, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, I didn't let any other boys do it," he said, as if that made up for every time he'd pulled her hair. She laughed again, trying to ignore how awkward the bit of nostalgia made her feel. "Seriously though…"

"Yeah?" she asked, honestly not wanting him to fill in the blank.

"Things could have been different," he stated, narrowing his eyes through the darkness at her as he sat up.

"But they aren't," she murmured, nibbling her lip. "You left, and things changed, Johnny. It took me longer than it should have to realize that, and you were probably right with what you said earlier tonight, and with what you said that night at the hotel. I may have not have wanted you to be him, but I wanted you to be his stand- in, and that wasn't fair."

Her mouth went dry at the admission, and when hurt flashed briefly across Johnny's face, she almost wished she hadn't said anything.

"What if I wouldn't have?" he asked quietly, continuing to hold her gaze.

"But you did," she replied firmly, not wanting to get into the possibilities. It wasn't fair to play pretend with what could have been, especially now. "And you found Lulu. I know that you're hurting right now, and you want to find a way to fix that, but-"

"I fucked it all up," he moaned, leaning forward and holding his face in his hands. "Everything good that I've had…is gone."

"It's going to be okay," she said, sliding her arm around his waist and resting her chin on his shoulder. She couldn't remember having ever comforted him like this and part of her thought it was long overdue. "You just have to be strong and believe that love is enough to fix this with Lulu."

"It's never been enough to fix anything before," he muttered, lifting his head slightly as he turned to look at her. "I just…I don't want to feel anything right now."

"Hence the liquor," she pointed out, figuring it had more than done its dutyies.

"Yeah, but it's not what I want. I…" He swallowed hard, leaning towards her. "Elizabeth."

"Johnny," she whispered, shaking her head slightly as she started to pull back. "I think you should-" He cut her off as he snaked his arm around her waist, pulling her against him to place his mouth over hers.

She protested at first, digging the heels of her hands into his shoulder, her lips parting to tell him to stop, but he slipped his tongue into her mouth. She briefly found herself caught up in the familiarity of his touch and his lips, but knew that it wasn't right.

"Johnny," she whispered, her lips brushing against his as she spoke, "this isn't-" She stopped, noticing the blur as it moved passed the door.

"Son of a bitch," she hissed, shoving Johnny hard as she got up from the couch, rushing towards the hallway. She saw Jason rounding the corner of the hallway, his fists clenched at his sides. "Jason, wait!"

She hurried after him, knowing he wouldn't stop and that he had already decided what had just happened. "Jason!"

By the time she reached the end of the hallway he was gone, having disappeared down the steps, and she could faintly hear the sound of the metal door clanging closed. She called his name again, going down the stairs so quickly that she nearly tripped over her feet and fell.

"Jason!" she cried, bursting through the door to see him fiddling with the lock on his car door. His shoulders tensed at her voice, and he slammed his fist into the side of the car as he dropped his keys.

"It's not what you think. He was just upset and-"

"Go back inside," he growled, snatching his keys out of a puddle as she grabbed his arm.

"I wouldn't do something like that to you," she said, her tears mixing with the rain. "Why would you think-"

"Are you really going to ask me that after _everything_ you've said and done since he's got back?" he hissed, jerking his arm out of her grasp as he opened his car door.

"I meant everything that I said to you – everything that I feel-"

"Well you obviously need to figure some things out," he interrupted, climbing into the car and slamming the door.

"Jason, you asshole!" she screamed, slamming her fist against the driver's door window. "I may be a lot of things, but I would never – Jason!" She let out a cry of frustration as he peeled out of the parking lot, his tire sloshing into a puddle and spraying her with water.

She started after the car, but knew it wouldn't matter because Jason was going to keep going. She understood why he was so upset, that he'd seen her with Johnny, that she hadn't pulled away as quickly as she should have, but she didn't want Johnny.

She _wanted_ Jason.

That much he should have known and believed. They'd been so honest and real with one another recently, and she thought that was enough to get them through anything. She'd had a sinking feeling from the second Johnny had come back without Lulu, only she never imagined it would end up like this.

Shoving her wet curls from her face, she watched his car come to a stop at the end of the street. Her heart tightened in heris chest, and she told herself he was going to turn around, that he would come back.

Only he didn't.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Jason _always_ drove fast.

Be it on his bike or in his SUV,; he just always drove fast. And on the rare occasions that he hired a driver, he required that they drove just as fast as he would. He hated stop signs and red lights, preferring to drive through alleys and side streets, taking whatever route would get him to his destination faster.

Tonight had been like any other except that the second the storm picked up, he knew he _had_ to get to Elizabeth as quickly as possible. Ever since the first night she had showned up on his doorstep, frantic and upset, he'd made the extra effort to be there during the softest of rain falls to the storms that caused blackouts. Sometimes , he wondered how long she'd held onto the fear before sharing it with anyone, and that made him want to be there even more in hopes of making it up to her somehow.

He'd cursed Ritchie for forcing him to have to drive back across town, and then he'd cursed the stupid fuck who'd driven their car into a pole on Main Street, adding an additional twenty minutes on his route to Elizabeth. Normally the rain would have slowed him down a bit, convinced him to ease up on the gas pedal because he'd think about Elizabeth, but tonight he hadn't been able to.

So, after sitting in traffic for nearly ten minutes without so much as inching forward, he'd managed to squeeze his way into the other lane, doingidoing a u-turn and peelingleding into an alley so fast that the police on the scene of the accident wouldn't have been able to catch him. Sure, Johnny had been there to keep her company, but something told Jason he didn't exactly understand know about how nervous storms made her.

And just maybe he wanted to be the one who comforted her.

He'd made it to her studio in record timeing and just knew the second Elizabeth answered the door, she was going to give him hell for driving like a lunatic and speeding in a storm. Of course, he'd imagined ways he could shut her up – well, that was if had Johnny had not been there, but he was drunk so there was always the chance that he would have passed out by the time Jason arrived.

Unfortunately, _nothing_ of that sort happened.

Instead he'd entered a poorly lit building, realized and knew that the electricity was out, and knew that Elizabeth was probably more of a mess than she had been on the phone. _He just hated to hear her voice tremble._

And instead of having Elizabeth ream him for taking a chance with his life in a terrible storm, he'd found her in Johnny's arms, their mouths pressed together in a more than friendly way. It was like every bad thought he'd had had come true.

He'd never been the type of man to get so involved with a woman that he looked forward to seeing her at the end of the day or to having her wake up beside him. He wasn't one to hope that she would be there tomorrow or that she would want to be with him. Most of the women he dated liked a good time, and their evenings ended with him buttoning up his pants and leaving her behind in a hotel room.

And the first woman that he knew he couldn't leave behind just _had_ to be the one to remind him why he never had relationships in the first place. Or why he couldn't trust people, period.

Letting out a growl of frustration, he tightened one hand on the wheel as he shifted to pull his cell phone from his pocket. It'd been ringing continuously for the last ten minutes, and he knew it was Elizabeth, that she was calling to explain, and he just couldn't deal with it right now.

He swallowed hard when he saw her name on the caller ID and tightened his fist around the phone before hurling it across the seat. It crashed against the passenger side door, splitting into several pieces, and he almost smiled when the ringing immediately ceased.

He almost felt guilty; for running away from the studio, for yelling at her, and for refusing to speak to her, but he just _couldn't_. He did the best possible thing he could have done and removed himself from the situation because, otherwise, he would have pummeled Johnny and Elizabeth would have probably had to pull Jason off his best friend. And theen he would have yelled at her and told her what he really thought before storming out.

Granted, what he really thought wasn't what he really thought because he couldn't calm down for ten seconds to actually figure out anything. He just couldn't get the image of Elizabeth kissing Johnny out of his head, and while the fact that she had lusted and pined for him the entire time he was Europe had driven him crazy, this was just too much.

When he thought about Elizabeth, how good things had been when Johnny wasn't around, when things weren't mixed up, he wanted to believe it was real. They fit so well together in all aspects of their lives, and he'd been telling himself it wasn't too good to be true. Technically all that had changed was the fact that they were sleeping together, that he could hold her hand and kiss her whenever he wanted, and the ability to do all of those things had brought them closer than he imagined them ever being.

Tonight could have easily been a mistake. Maybe she was scared and caught up in the moment, and she just needed something, but if she would have waited just a minute longer, he'd have been there.

Or maybe Johnny had needed her and she didn't know what to do.

Or maybe they weren't as perfect as he thought.

He was willing to take the confusion that came with her wanting him, and he was doing his damnedest to understand why she had been so mixed up and had quickly let go of Johnny in favor of Jason. Honestly, he wanted to believe Elizabeth truly wanted to be with him and that what they had was on the verge of something real, but real wasn't what she'd done. And now he found himself wondering if it wasn't just some kind of ploy to get to Johnny in some way.?

_That was the worst fucking thought of all. _

Swearing under his breath, he gripped the wheel tightly as he took a curve on the cliff road, realizing that he hadn't even meant to end up here – it just happened. He used to drive it a lot after his accident; just him, the road, and his bike every night, and there was nothing that made him feel more free and on his own. He knew it was his anger getting in the way, but tonight the road felt strange and awkward, like he'd never driven it before. And that was when it occurred to him that maybe sometimes, he drove _too_ fast.

Elizabeth leaned against a counter in her studio, her face pressed against the heels of her hands, having gotten so angry that Jason wasn't answering his phone that she'd slammed her cell phone against the wall. She immediately regretted it, knowing that was the one and only way he had to get a hold of her, and she knew that despite how angry he was, he would call her when he got home or to wherever his destination was upon storming out after seeing her kiss Johnny.

_Or at least she hoped. _

She shivered, running her hands up and down her wet arms. She was soaked to the bone, her clothes thick and heavy as they clung to her skin, and she wanted nothing more than to peel them off and curl into a ball, but unfortunately that wasn't an option.

"Elizabeth, will you say something?" Johnny moaned, lifting his head from the back of the couch to look at her.

"Shut up," she hissed, dropping her hands from her face to glare at him. With the faint glow of the light in the hallway, she could almost see his face, and it was hard not to imagine doing anything but hitting him in it.

"Look, I'm sorry," he said, repeating the three words he'd managed to say continuously for the last hour. "I shouldn't have…"

"Just shut up," she repeated, cradling her face in her hands as she started to cry again.

She wasn't even angry with Johnny. Sure, he'd tried to kiss her, but she hadn't stopped it, and that's what was killing her. As stupid and unbelievable as it may have been, the second Johnny's lips touched hers, it was familiar and she couldn't pull away. It was like she was someone else, and by the time she realized she wasn't – that she was _still_ Elizabeth and she wanted Jason – it was too late.

He'd watched her betray him in the worst possible way, and nothing she had to say would change how he felt. She understood why he was so upset, but at the same time, she would never intentionally do anything to hurt him, and she just wished he would have stopped for a second and thought about that.

Then again, she would have had a similar reaction if she caught someone with their tongue down Jason's throat. Granted, she wouldn't have ruuan away immediately because she would have made sure the goddamn whore knew who she was, but then she would have left Jason behind, just to give him time to think about what he'd done.

Oh, who was she kidding? Jason would have _never_ done anything like this.

He wouldn't have thought twice about pushing away the first woman that got close to him, knowing that he only wanted Elizabeth, and for some reason that hurt her more than anything else. To know that she had completely failed him – it just killed her.

Wiping her cheeks with the back of her hands, she paced back and forth across the room, trying to figure out what exactly to do. It wasn't like she could go after him; he could be anywhere and she was too upset to get behind the wheel of a car.

_He shouldn't have even been driving. _

"Elizabeth, I'll find him. I'll talk to him," Johnny murmured, slowly pushing himself up from the couch, having sobered up plenty from the mere shock of what had happened.

"You're not going anywhere," she snapped, sounding angrier than she meant to, but she was losing more and more control with every passing second.

"I'll explain that I kissed you – that I _used_ you-"

"That sounds so great," she interrupted, her stomach churning at his words.

_Used. _

Just how many fucking times had she been used? And now that was exactly what Jason had thought she'd done with him.

"It's the truth," he said dryly.

"I know it is," she replied, clenching her fists at her sides. "But he doesn't care about what you did, Johnny. He cares that _I_ – Things are so complicated with us. They always have been, and just when we were starting to move forward – I ruined it all."

"Elizabeth, come on. He's going to cool off, and he's going to come back."

"You don't understand," she cried, taking several deep breaths to try and keep herself from losing it all over again. "I – I hurt him in the worst possible way. He trusted me and…" Her voice trailed off as she noticed a shadow in the doorway from the corner of her eye. She stiffened, folding her arms over her chest, too terrified to look over.

"Elizabeth?"

Her head snapped to the doorway at the sound of Ritchie's voice, and she instantly thought of how different his shadow was next to Jason's. He was so much smaller; frail even, next to his boss, and his presence completely unnerved her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, shoving her damp curls from her face with tremblingshaky hands. Letting out a shaky breath, she looked from Ritchie to Johnny, and then back to Ritchie. "What?"

"I've been trying to call you for the last twenty minutes," he replied quietly, bracing his hands against the doorway as if he _couldn't_ come into the room.

"Have you talked to Jason?" she asked nervously, wondering if he'd sent Ritchie to check up on her.

"Not exactly," he answered, hanging his head.

"What?" she asked, stepping towards him, and then stopping as her heart tightened in her chest. "Ritchie?"

"Elizabeth," he whispered, slowly lifting his eyes to hers, and she didn't need to see through the darkness.

_She just knew. _

"He's at home," she said, shaking her head, instantly stepping into denial. "He sent you, right? He knew I was upset and worried." She shook her head again and looked at Johnny, who looked as stunned as she did. "Ritchie?"

"There – uh – there was…" He swallowed hard, pushing himself away from the doorway to walk over to her. "Jason wr – wrecked his car on – on the cliff road."

"No!" she shouted, backing away from him as she held her hands out in front of herhim. "It wasn't Jason. It couldn't have been. He was going – he was going home. I know he was mad, but he was going home. He wouldn't – wouldn't do something like that – not in this weather."

"Elizabeth," Ritchie sighed, reaching out to pull her into his arms, but she bucked against him, shoving him away.

"No!" she cried, looking over at Johnny to see that he'd sunk back onto the couch and was slumped forward. "It wasn't him – it can't…"

"His mom was on duty at the hospital. She called the warehouse to try and get in touch with someone."

"No," she whimpered, letting herself collapse against Ritchie as he reached for her again. Burying her face in his chest, she fell apart as reality set in, remaining on her feet only because he was holding her up. She buried her face in his chest, falling apart as reality to set in. She was pretty sure the only reason she was able to continue standing was because he slid his arms around her waist to hold her up. "This can't – it's my – not again, Ritchie. _Not again."_


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

It had been nearly ten years since Elizabeth had sat in this very waiting room in a moment all too similar to this one.

Johnny, quiet at her side, one hand clenched tightly around hersis. His was breath heavily scented with liquor as he muttered constantly in an attempt to soothe her. She remained silent and still, barely feeling Johnny's hand on hers, his voice sounding far away.

Tonight was almost the same.

Except Johnny didn't talk, and she was the one rambling. Her hand was in his, both of them clinging together in hopes that he was alright. Sure, she was angry with Johnny and wanted to tell him to go to hell, but Jason was still very important to the both of them. They needed one another to get through the waiting, and they needed one another to believe it was okay. It was the only way they'd make it through.

They'd been at the hospital for twenty-six minutes and no one had told them a damn thing except that Jason was with the doctor. She hadn't seen either of his parents or a nurse that she knew well enough to pry information out of. In the eyes of the law, they weren't family so they had no right to know anything, but really, they were the only family he'd ever had.

"Johnny," she whispered, leaning over to rest her head on his shoulder. His hand tightened around hers in response. "He's going to be fine. I would know if he wasn't. _I_ would know."

It was true.

When Jason Quartermaine had the accident, she felt so unsettled, like something was happening she couldn't control. The doctors came out and explained the situation with the coma and how he may or may not wake up, and she just knew. And it became worse as time went on, and the doctors said that if he did wake up, he may be different, and she just knew.

"I can't – I can't sit here," she said, pulling her hand from his as she moved to her feet. She shivered, still in her damp clothes, and ran her hands up and down her arms. "I can't wait to hear if he's – he's going to be fine."

He didn't nod or shake his head, just kept his head hung as he stared at the floor, his hands tightening around the arm of his chair.

"He will," she repeated, pacing back and forth in front of Johnnyhim, stopping every few seconds to look at himJohnny, but his stance never changed. "Johnny." He shifted slightly, not bothering to look up at her. "You can't keep sitting there like that. You have to do something. Johnny, damnmit! Will you at least look at me?"

He swallowed hard and took a deep breath, his eyes never lifting to hers.

"Say something!" she cried, leaning over to shove him on the shoulder. She grew furious when he remained quiet, and she couldn't stop herself from hitting him hard in the shoulder. "Just fucking say something, Johnny!"

"Stop!" he growled, grabbing her by the wrist when she started to hit him again. He hurried to his feet and jerked her towards him so that she crashed into his chest, and he immediately wrapped his arms around her and cradled her against him. "Just stop." He glared at her as she bucked against him, finally giving up as she burst into tears.

"Stop," he repeated, resting his chin on the top of her head as she buried her face in his neck, failing to muffle her sobs.

She wasn't sure how long she stood there and let him hold her while she cried, but the by the time she finished, she was more exhausted than when she started. "Johnny," she whispered, rubbing her face against his shirt.

"It's okay," he murmured, smoothing his hand over the back of her head as he pulled her over to the chair and slowly pushed her down into a seat. He moved to his knees in front of her, one hand on herhis knee as he lifted the other to her chin, forcing her to look at him. "You okay?"

Taking a deep breath, she nodded. "I'm sor-"

"Don't be," he said, squeezing her knee as he pushed himself up from the floor. "Stay here. Someone in this fucking hospital is telling me something." She nodded again. "I'll fix this, Elizabeth. It's my fault. I'll fix this."

She started to argue, to tell him that it was her fault, but he was gone before she had the chance. Sighing, she closed her eyes and sank down in her seat, resting her head on the back of her chair.

Johnny would _fix_ this.

It was what he'd always done and this time wouldn't be any different. While he made lots of mistakes and did so much he couldn't take back, he always found a way to fix it. And if she forgot about the kiss, Jason seeing them, and the whole situation that led them here – she almost believed he could.

She wiped her hands over her face and pushed herself to her feet, refusing to sit around and not doing anything. Even pacing the length of the hospital beat sitting in a chair. She rounded the corner from the waiting area, too distracted to think about a destination, let alone focus on what was right in front of her, which she realized only after barreling into someone.

"Shit," she hissed, shoving her curls from her face. "I'm so sorry I wasn't – Lulu!" Her eyes welled up with tears when she realized who was standing in front of her.

"Elizabeth, you poor thing," she sighed, stepping forward to gently wrap her arms around her. "I can't imagine how you feel right now – you and Johnny both."

She stiffened at the mention of Lulu's ex-fiancé, knowing that sooner or later she was going to learn the truth about how they ended up here. "Lulu…" She pulled herself away, shaking her head as if to apologize for hugging her.

"It's okay. I know you're upset," she said sincerely, reaching to grab Elizabeth's arm.

"What – what are you doing here?" she asked, suddenly confused as to why the woman who'd broken the engagement with Johnny was here now.

"I – uh – I had some things at the hotel I needed to pick up. I took the later flight that John – John and I already had scheduled," she stammered, shoving her straight blonde hair from her face. "I felt so guilty about what happened and all the work you've done, so I thought…I knew that I owed it to you to come and explain. I was knocking on your door when Ritchie got off the elevator, and he told me what happened, so I came straight over." She held up the bag in her hand. "Ritchie asked me to give these to you."

"Thanks," she murmured, taking the dry clothes that he'd insisted on going to get for her. She hung her head, rolling her neck from side to side as she tried to wrap her head around this.

Everything tonight had happened so fast.

"Have you seen him yet?" she asked worriedly, chewing her lip as she shook her head at Elizabeth.

"No. We don't know anything. Jo – Johnny went off to find something out…" She felt guilty even mentioning the man's name. How was she going to explain the kiss?

"The flight was delayed some because of the storm, and it was still a mess when we landed," Lulu said, clucking her tongue in disbelief. "I can't believe Jason drove in this weather. It just seems like he would avoid – I'm sorry. I shouldn't-"

"It's okay," Elizabeth cut in, forcing a smile at her. "He usually doesn't." She rocked back and forth on her feet, sucking in a breath when she caught Lulu's eyes. "Jason and I had a fight. He was really upset and angry when he left and…"

"Oh, honey, this isn't your fault," she murmured, sliding an arm around her shoulder. "You didn't do this. Sometimes things happen and we can't change-"

"You don't understand," she interrupted, looking away from her. "There's more to it. Jason – he saw-"

"Elizabeth."

Her head snapped in the direction of Johnny's voice, and he quickly shook his head as he frowned, and she knew _he_ wanted to tell Lulu. It may not sound any better coming from Johnny, but it was his place to explain to her just as it was Elizabeth's to explain to Jason.

Lulu sucked in a breath beside her, her hand tightening around Elizabeth's shoulder. "Hi," she managed weakly, nervously lifting her eyes to Johnny's. "Did you find out-"

"He's in room 1201," he interrupted, shifting his eyes briefly to Elizabeth. "I thought you might want to see him first. And I don't know if he's awa-"

"That's all I need," she said, pulling away from Lulu and hurrying past Johnny towards the elevators.

She glanced over her shoulders as she waited on the doors to open, her heart fluttering when she saw Lulu in Johnny's arms, and she couldn't help but wonder if there was hope for them yet.

_There had to be. _

And if they were okay, then _maybe…_

Jason could still remember how bright the fluorescent ceiling lights were when he'd woken up from his first accident. It was like he'd stared straight into the sun for far too long, and he could feel the heat from the bulbs at the back of his eyes. He wasn't sure how long it'd taken for everything to come into focus, most of the room clouded in a soft, yellow haze, nothing come in as clear as the face of the porcelain- faced brunette at his beside.

He knew nothing at the time, but one look at her showed him _everything;_ beauty, a shade of blue, a first smile followed by first heartache, how a tear fell, how to use happiness to cover up sadness, and what it meant to be something to someone.

It still amazed him that Elizabeth loved Jason Quartermaine enough to sit at his bedside for months, only to accept the fact that he wasn't him. And he supposed that was how he learned what love really was.

No other woman had ever touched him the way that Elizabeth did, and he assumed that was why they were never anything more to him than someone to take to bed. It didn't mean he respected them any less, but he just didn't look at them the same way he did her. She'd always been special, but he'd really only let himself admit it recently.

Waking up this time had been different. He felt less exhausted and pained, but the lights were just as bright, and there was no Elizabeth.

Groaning, he lifted a hand to his face, grimacing when he saw the IV stuck in his hand and tried to recall exactly what happened. He could remember the slick road and his foot on the gas, but then everything was blank.

He lifted his head to rub his hand over the back of his neck, his other searching around beside himon the bed for the remote to the bed. When he found it, he hit the button to raise the top half, having memorized it long ago. He'd spent entirely _too much_ time in the hospital.

He rubbed his hand over his eyes before noticing the shadow in the doorway, and even when he focused it took him a second to realize it was Elizabeth. Her hands were braced against the door, her lips pulled into a light-lipped frown, the rims of her eyes filled with tears.

Scratching a hand over his eyebrow, he licked his dry lips as he held out his hand. "Hey."

"Jason?" she asked weakly, slowly entering the room. "You know – you know who I am?"

His heart clenched in his chest, hating that she'd been waiting for him to wake up to see if he knew who she was. "Of course," he whispered, giving her a nervous smile. "How could I forget?"

Her lips started to curl into a grin, but she stopped. "That's not funny."

"You're mad," he murmured, his hand still outstretched and waiting for hers.

"You're stupid," she replied, stepping up beside the bed and ignoring his hand.

"_I'm_ stupid?" he asked, leaning back against his pillows. He should have known she wasn't going to make this easy, but that was one of his favorite things about her.

"It was bad enough you were upset and driving in the middle of an awful storm, but to take the cliff road, Jason?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest. She retreated to being angry instead of showing how scared she was. "Do you have a death wish?"

"I was upset," he answered, clearing his throat. "And no, I don't have a death wish."

"Then why would do you something so stupid?" she asked, finally sietting down on the edge of the bed.

"Probably for the same reason you'd kiss Johnny," he replied, picking at his IV.

"Jason," she sighed, chewing her lip intently. "I – I don't have a good excuse. It just happened, and I know you think that things like that don't happen, but I would never – I don't want him. He just kissed me, and for a moment I was caught up in it, as dumb as that sounds, but then I realized…I realized that he's not _you_."

He closed his eyes at her words, torn between telling her to stay and telling her to go.

"I know you probably don't believe me after everything I've done since Johnny got back, but it's true. Things have happened so fast between us but that doesn't mean I feel any less for you. I want you and only you, and I'm so sorry."

He nodded, sucking in a breath when her hand slipped into his. He didn't doubt the sincerity of her words or her apology, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

"It will never happen again. Not with Johnny or anyone else." Leaning forward, he lifted a hand to her face, gently forcing her to look at him. She tried to look away, but he didn't let her. When her lower lip started to quiver, he smoothed his thumb across it as if to stop her. "I'm sorry. About Johnny. And your acci-"

"This wasn't your fault," he interrupted softly, cupping her cheek. "I drove too fast."

"You always drive too fast."

"I do," he agreed, stroking her cheek. "You were scared. I'm sorry for that."

"No, I'm fi-"

"Scared," he interrupted firmly, not wanting her to lie about how she felt.

"Okay," she admitted, leaning into his touch. "I was, and you were too – when you saw Johnny and me together."

"I was," he replied, letting out a heavy sigh, not used to such admissions. "I thought you wanted him and that I was…just a way to get to him."

Her eyes softened to a shade of blue that he knew so well. "You weren't," she said, scooting closer to him. "You're everything to me. You always have been, even before this. And tonight, I thought you'd wake up and wouldn't know – I thought I was going to lose you again."

"Hey, it's okay," he murmured, stifling a groan as he stretched to pull her against him. "I'm not going anywhere."

"I thought you'd forget again," she whispered, fisting her hands in his hospital gown as she curled against him. "I wanted to believe you wouldn't, but there was that chance that you would, and I…"

"It's okay," he repeated, smoothing his hand up and down her back until she relaxed against him. "Look at me, Elizabeth." She nodded, wiping her cheek against his gown as she pulled back to look at him. "I don't think you realize it, Webber."

"Realize what?" she asked, furrowing her brow.

His lips stretched into a crooked grin as he tipped his head forward to press his lips to hers. "How unforgettable you really are."


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

Elizabeth frowned as she tapped the ice dispenser in the cafeteria of the hospital, annoyed to find that it was empty. It was almost as annoying as discovering that they were in the middle of changing the food, thus there was nothing to eat. And it was most annoying that it was nearly two a.m. and there wasn't a decent place in town that would be open. She was hungry, which was the least of her concerns because Jason was the one who was starving, and she figured that finding someone with a concussion something to eat was extremely important to their recovery…or something.

She hated hospitals so much; the smell, the lighting, the hushed voices, and mostly the rooms. She knew it stemmed from Jason Quartermaine's accident and sitting vigil for months on end, and tonight had done nothing but dredge up the past in the worst possible way.

Jason also hated hospitals, for what she assumed were similar reasons. He'd laid in a bed for months and months, watching the same twelve crappy channels on the television, all while trying to figure out who he was supposed to be. She knew that was why he was hell bent on getting out of General Hospital as soon as possible, but thankfully, she'd talked him into staying, at least for one night. He needed to be under observation in case something did go wrong, and if they went home, she'd just stay up all night, staring at him and waiting for something to go wrong, only to know not not know what to do if something did.

So, for one night, they both agreed to shove their uneasiness aside and stay. Well, she agreed a lot easier than Jason had. It took promising a _very_ nice homecoming for Jason to agree – a promise that he tried to get her to fulfill in his hospital room, and she may have, but she wasn't sure what kind of sexual escapades a man with a concussion should be committing. They were completely awful – or rather Jason was. He really could get her to do just about anything, anywhere.

"Elizabeth?"

Her head snapped up as she jumped back from the ice machine, so startled she dropped what little bit of ice she managed to get out, even more startled to see Lulu standing there. "Lulu…I, uh, I thought…you and Johnny left."

"No," the blonde replied, shaking her head as she pursed her lips. "Johnny wanted to see Jason, and I wanted – I wanted to see you. I mean, I know it's late and all, but…"

Sighing, Elizabeth dropped to her knees and started to scoop the ice back into the cup, suddenly unable to look at Lulu. Johnny had obviously told her about the kiss, and now she wanted to have some bitchy confrontation or hug it out. Elizabeth was really hoping she didn't want to hug it out.

"It's late," she murmured, dusting her hands off on her knees as she stood back up. "How long are you in town? We can talk before you leave. I should get back to Jason."

"I leave tomorrow," she answered, stepping in front of Elizabeth when she started towards the exit of the cafeteria. "I really think we should talk."

"Okay," she muttered, motioning her towards the array of empty tables that filled the cafeteria. She tossed the cup into a garbage can as she walked over, Lulu following closely behind her. "Look, I'm not sure what to say. I know you're upset, and you have every right to be." Taking a deep breath, she pulled out a chair, sat down, and waited for Lulu to do the same. "All I can do is say I'm sorry and hope that you believe me."

"I wasn't surprised by the kiss," Lulu admitted, tucking her straight hair neatly behind her ears. "If anything, I think I've been waiting on it to happen."

"Oh," she whispered weakly.

"Yeah," she nodded slowly. "I was aware of the type of situation I was stepping into by coming home with John. I knew long before I ever met you that you were something – _someone_ – to him, and that regardless of who I was to him, there was some kind of attraction."

"It's not like that," Elizabeth said quickly, shaking her head. "I may have wanted Johnny a while ago, but I am completely with Jason. Johnny was so upset about you ending the engagement – and I'm not saying it's your fault at all – but he did what he's always done when he gets's upset. He drank and tried to pick up some woman at the bar, and I intervened and tried to stop him. Not only because he was going to hurt himself, but because you didn't deserve that. You love him, he loves you, and you expect him to honor that."

"But he didn't," she muttered coldly, catching Elizabeth off guard. It was the first time she'd ever seen Lulu actually display some kind of emotion from her usually chipper self.

"No, he didn't," she agreed, chewing her lip nervously. "And you were supposed to be my friend, and I didn't honor that either."

Lulu nodded seriously, arching an eyebrow as if she were surprised that Elizabeth was confessing her own role in the situation.

_Hell, it was even surprising to Elizabeth that she was saying this. _

"When Johnny left town, we had somewhat connected – or at least, I thought we had, but of course to him I was just another girl. Except that I was one he didn't want to go that far with. He knew it would have ruined everything between us," Elizabeth said hesitantly, not sure if divulging some of their complicated history would fix this or not. "Part of me hoped that he'd come back for me, but he didn't. He came with you, and I've always had problems with the women that Jason and Johnny date. I want them to have someone good with pure intentions. They are honest, caring men, and they have a lot of money, and they tend to get involved with these stupid gold-digger's…"

"Which I am not," Lulu murmured, giving her a faint smile.

"I know. You're perfect for Johnny, and maybe that irked me more than I wanted it to." She sighed heavily, feeling all too vulnerable, and she knew this was why she never had any girlfriends. Who wanted to talk about their feelings all the damn time? "It's like I told Jason a while ago. For so long, it was the three of us and no one else, and I – I felt threatened. Maybe I knew all along that you were right for him, and he really loved you, but I didn't want to face it."

"Or maybe you were scared that I would hurt him," Lulu offered, her eyes darkening at her words. "I did exactly what you thought I would do."

"Well, you thought I'd turn out to be some jealous shrew and I guess, maybe, I was." Elizabeth forced a smile and shrugged half-heartedly. "Maybe that's why I kissed him. Sadly, I don't even know. It just happened and the second it did…" She paused, taking a deep breath when she felt like she was going to cry. "I wanted to take it back, but I couldn't, and all I can do is say that I'm sorry."

"I don't doubt that you love Jason and would never want to hurt him," Lulu said softly. "And I know you feel the same way for John. I wasn't even upset when I heard about the kiss – confused is more like it, maybe even a little jealous, but there was this part of me that knew John would do something like this. And that part of me was relieved that he chose to kiss you and not some random…slut, which probably makes no sense because I should be upset with you, but I'm not. I like you, Elizabeth, and I want to be friends with you, even now, when I know that you're furious with me."

"I'm not," she argued, shaking her head firmly. "I understand why you broke the engagement and why your family is important to you. I think it's difficult for Johnny to understand that because he never had a great relationship with his family. None of us did really, and we sort of learned to depend on one another and make our own family."

"They're my parents," she whispered, her eyes brimming with tears. "I can't walk away from them."

"But you can't let them control you either," Elizabeth replied, regretting her words the second Lulu shifted her eyes to hers. "I just…I…" She rubbed her hands over her face feeling more and more drained by the second. "Remember what you said to me outside Kelly's – after I had lied to Jason and I was so upset?"

Lulu's brow furrowed. "No."

"Well, you said sometimes it's hard to be honest with someone you love, but if someone really loves you, they'll always forgive you."

"Okay…" she murmured, clearly confused.

"I just think that if your parents really love you and they want you to be happy, they'll forgive you for marrying Johnny. They'll understand and part of them may even grow to respect you for doing what your heart feels is right."

"And if they don't?" she asked, slumping back against her chair.

Elizabeth grinned as she got up from the table. "Then fuck 'em because you'll have a new family with us."

Jason's jaw ticked the second Johnny stepped into his room. It had started when he noticed his friend pacing the hallway, and he was hoping common sense would get the best of Johnny and he'd leave.

_But it hadn't. _

And now he was standing at the foot of Jason's bed, his hands tucked nervously in his pockets and his eyes on the floor. His respect would have gone up had Johnny actually attempted to talk to him, let alone look at him, but it was clear he'd have to say the first word.

Sighing, he scratched a hand over his face and dropped his hand back to his lap. "We can do this now or later," he muttered, picking at the tape that held the IV against his skin. "I'd rather later, but I'm sure you want to get it over with."

Johnny nodded, slowly lifting his eyes to the bed, and then Jason's face. "I'm sorry."

"For what exactly?" he asked, wondering if his best friend even knew the list of reasons why he was so angry with him. Kissing Elizabeth had been a fine way to top it all off.

"Everything," he swallowed, shaking his head. "Work, drinking, what happened in Europe, what happened before I left for Europe." He sucked in a breath and started to pace at the foot of the bed. "Elizabeth."

"I don't care about what happened with the business anymore," Jason said, fisting the sheet in his hands, desperate to just tear something apart. "I don't even give a shit about the drinking, but Elizabeth…I don't know what you were thinking."

"And before you even give me some fucking reason about how she was a part of it to, I'd recommend you don't go there," he continued, assuming that would be the first sentence to leave Johnny's lips. "I know Elizabeth is messed up when it comes to relationships and men, especially you. It's not an excuse by any means for her kissing you, but you knew that if you kissed her – if you made a move, she'd react in some way. You knew she'd kiss you back."

Jason took a deep breath, his heart tightening in his chest as he thought about the two of them in her studio. The kiss had left his mind the second he talked to Elizabeth, but seeing Johnny brought it up all over again. Thankfully, his mind didn't wander when he thought about the possibilities – about what would have happened _if_ he hadn't seen it, and that was because Jason knew Elizabeth would have stopped it.

He didn't know if he could say the same for Johnny. While he liked to think that his best friend would never do something like this, he had, and Jason didn't know how far Johnny would have let it go.

"I wouldn't have slept with her," he muttered, surprising Jason by practically reading his thoughts. "I don't know why I did it. I wanted to feel something good. I dunno."

"I understand why you're upset about the business and how things were with your dad," Jason said seriously, "but Elizabeth is different. You don't get a free pass on her."

"I know. I shouldn't have done it. You would never do something like that to me," he replied, shuffling his feet against the floor. "I don't know why. I have no excuse, but I am sorry. I don't want things to be ruined between you two because of me, and-"

"They aren't," he interrupted. "I still don't understand why you did it. You're not entitled to be happy or have something good, Johnny. You have to earn it, and you can't take it from someone else because you want it."

"I know," he sighed, hanging his head. "I'm sorry. I really am."

Jason didn't doubt that he wasn't. It was typical of Johnny to make mistakes without thinking about the consequences until it was too late, but this time was different. As ridiculous as it sounded, Johnny hurt him in pursuing Elizabeth in any way, and he wasn't sure if he could trust him now.

Maybe it was wrong for him to forgive Elizabeth so quickly when she was at fault too, but he just felt like he could. She'd never purposely hurt him, and Johnny was the kind of person to hurt his friends just so he could have someone to feel miserable with. They'd always accepted that about him and understood why he was the way he was, but this time he'd gone too far.

Granted, he'd been hurting over Lulu and wanted to make the pain go away in true O'Brien fashion – still, it wasn't enough to allow Jason to feel any better about what had happened. He knew Johnny regretted it and was sorry and would never want to wreck his relationship with Elizabeth, and now he just had to get past it.

"I know you are," Jason muttered, shifting uncomfortably against his pillows. "I just…I need to get over this before…"

"You can forgive me," Johnny filled in understandingly. "Feel free to take a shot or two at my face the next time you're standing."

Jason's mouth hitched into a crooked smile. "I just may take you up on that."

Johnny started to reply, but stopped when there was a knock on the door, both their heads turning to see Elizabeth in the doorway. "The food didn't look…good," she said awkwardly, looking between them. She looked nervous as if she didn't trust them being alone together.

"Well, you haven't killed each other yet, so " she murmured nervously, stepping into the room. "I guess that's a good sign."

"Yeah," O'Brien nodded, looking at Jason as he started towards the door. "Things will be okay."

"They will," he agreed, nodding as Johnny started to leave.

Elizabeth grabbed him by the crook of his arm, and he immediately tensed under her touch. She looked from Jason to Johnny, forcing a smile at their friend. "Thank you for earlier," she said softly. "I wouldn't have gotten through tonight if you hadn't…"

"No worries, Webber," he muttered, placing his hand over hers and gently squeezing it. "I've always got your back."

She nodded, her face breaking into a grin as he left the room and closed, closing the door behind him.

Sighing, she turned back to Jason, who couldn't help but be curious about what his friend had done. "I, uh, I may have freaked out just a bit when we first got here," she confessed, sitting down on the edge of the bed with a frown. "I kept telling myself you were going to be okay, but it was like I was trying to believe a lie. And I snapped, but Johnny shook me out of it."

"I'm really sorry you had-"

"Don't," she grimaced, leaning over to kick off her shoes as she crawled up beside him, settling her tiny form in between his body and the bed frame. "I never want to hear that word again."

"I hate that you were scared," he whispered, lifting his head up to brush his lips againstto her forehead.

"I'm always scared," she admitted, sliding her hand across his middle as she draped one of her legs over his. "I lost you – I lost someone once, and I don't – I _couldn't_ lose you, Jason."

"You won't," he said thickly, tightening his arm around her. "I'm not going anywhere. You're stuck with me forever."

"Forever?" she asked, tipping her head back to look up at him. "You know when you say it like that…" He arched an eyebrow, waiting for her to fill in the rest. "Forever?"

"Forever," he replied, knowing that while a lot had happened fast, he'd _never_ want anyone else.

"Of With my wet towels?"

"And your damn clothes," he added, closing his eyes.

"I'll always mess up your bookshelf," she laughed, curling against him.

"And steal my t-shirts."

"And drink your booze."

"And sleep in my bed," he muttered, nuzzling the top of her head.

"Oh, that's right. I get perks now," she laughed again, stretching to press her mouth to his. "You know, come to think of it…" She paused, letting her mouth linger over his. "Forever doesn't sound half bad."

"So that's it, huh? My bed is what it's all about?" he asked, his words muffled against her lips. He slid his hands around her waist, gently pulling her so that she straddled him.

She chuckled softly, settling her hips over his as she kissed him. "Of course," she whisperedteased, her tongue snaking across his lower lip. "What else is there?"

He groaned in reply, their tongues finding their way into each other's mouths. He knew – as well as she did – that _there wasthis was more_, but and as her hands slipped beneath his hospital gown and slowly slid made their way between his thighs, he also knew that nothing would beat having her all to himself. nothing little beat having her all to himself.


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Elizabeth yawned as she pulled herself up in bed, her face breaking into a grin as she glanced at Jason, who was stretched out across the bed, his face buried in his pillow. He looked like such a little boy when he slept, especially when he curled up on his side like he often did with his relaxed face and soft sighs as he snored peacefully. Each morning that she woke up beside him was a reminder that the sarcastic, cutthroat businessman that she knew so well was vulnerable and subdued – _if only in his sleep._

Of course, she spent more time thinking about how good he looked naked than focusing on his tender side. After all, she was only a woman, and she'd be a fool not admire him whenever she had the chance.

Sighing, she drew her knees up to her chest and tucked the sheet around her, torn between actually getting out of bed and snuggling back beside him. He'd been out of the hospital for three days now, but the doctor advised him to take it easy, and he'd held Elizabeth to her promise of a very nice homecoming. It was so nice in fact, that they hadn't gotten out of bed for the last three days except to answer the door for takeout and to shower. The issue of who would answer the door was usually a fight, but of course, the shower came easy. They were very into conserving water these days.

She couldn't help but grin as she thought about how nice it had been to just be lazy with Jason. It was something they'd never actually done; so much of their time was spent being high strung as they argued over the remote, or what to eat, and how Elizabeth left her stuff all over his penthouse. They'd never climbed into bed without pointing out how annoyed they were with one another or how long they had until work or a meeting. As crazy as it sounded, she knew the accident was to thank for the sudden calmness between them.

Or at least it was for Elizabeth.

It was a harsh reminder of what she could have lost, and while she thought Jason meant everything to her before, she knew for sure that he did now. She'd had doubts about their relationship, mostly because she was so intimated by the intimacy and the way he made her feel, but now she had no worries. She wanted to wake up beside him every morning and soak up every possible second she had with him – even when he was hogging the blankets and sleeping on her side of the bed.

She'd never had a man who actually _wanted_ to sleep on her side of the bed.

Things were so different in her past relationships. She told herself she loved each of the men she'd been involved with, but she'd always kept them at arms length. Even when she lived with any of her ex-boyfriends, it had been important to her that her things remained where they belonged, and they weren't mixed in with any of theirs.

She had a side of the bed. She had a drawer to put her clothes in. She had a place for books on her shelf. And she had no problems giving them those things as long as they kept it in _their_ places.

Maybe it stemmed from her childhood- this desire not to share, but with Jason it was different. They'd shared everything long before they ever climbed into bed with one another, and it never stressed her or made her worry if it was too much. She liked having him involved in her life, and she'd like to think he felt the same about her.

"What are you doing?" Jason muttered, his voice muffled by his pillow as he cracked an eye open.

"Just thinking," she sighed, resting her cheek on her knee as she looked down at him.

"About…?" he asked, his hand snaking out to stroke the small of her back.

She shivered beneath his touch, her back arching against his palm. "Whether or not you'll let me out of bed," she said, rolling towards him as she fell to the mattress.

"Not happening," he replied, tugging her towards him as he rolled over, leaving her halfway beneath him. "I took the whole week off because you told me to."

"Well, I didn't take the whole week off," she reminded him, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

"You will soon enough," he muttered, brushing her hair away from her neck before pressing his lips against it.

"Don't remind me," she groaned, letting out a heavy sigh.

Her boss had called two days ago to tell her he was closing his gallery because he'd gotten an offer to start up one in Manhattan, which meant Elizabeth was now out of a job. Sure, he'd offered her a hefty severance package that would allow her more than a few months to find a new job, but it wouldn't be at the gallery. It was the only one in town and she'd worked there since she was a teenager and thinking about going somewhere else was just sad.

"You can be my secretary until you find something else," Jason said, his breath on her ear as he traced her hip with his fingertips.

"Something tells me you don't want me around to answer your phones," she laughed, pulling her head away from his neck to look at her.

"Not really," he replied, his eyes trailing down what little of her body that wasn't covered by his.

"Pervert," she muttered, shoving him playfully.

He rolled onto his back, somehow managing to pull her with him so that now she was on top of him. "You haven't complained in the past few days."

"Jason," she hissed, holding her face in her hands as she blushed.

"Embarrassment from the girl who climbed on top of me in the hospital and went-"

"Stop," she warned, dropping one of her hands from her face to smack him in the chest. "That should have never happened. I just pitied you."

He arched an eyebrow as he grinned, laughing to himself. "Well you can pity me anytime, Webber."

"I hate you so much," she muttered, rolling her eyes as she tried not to laugh with him. It really wasn't like her to just jump someone without so much as giving it a second thought as to where they were, but Jason did things to her that were unexplainable. She _almost_ couldn't stand it. "You know what would have happened if the nurse had walked in two seconds earlier."

"I doubt it's the first time she's ever caught someone with their gown up," he teased, sliding his hand gently down her back as he lifted his other to her face.

"I really, really hate you," she groaned, failing to resist him as he tugged her mouth to his, kissing her gently.

He nipped at her lower lip and eased his tongue into her mouth, causing her to sigh with contentment, but she quickly reminded herself her goal was to get _out_ of bed.

"Jas-" She was cut off as he flipped her over, pinning her below him. "You're awful. I have things to do, and-"

"Shh," he mumbled against her mouth, kissing her hard as he settled himself between her legs.

He slid one hand down her side, the other slipping up to cup her breast and gently pinch her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. She tried to pull her mouth away from his, thinking of all the things she really did _have_ to do, but when he was kissing her like _this_ and touching her like _that_ – well, there was just no hope for the rest of the world.

"Jason," she moaned, tearing her mouth away as his hand moved from her hip to between her legs.

"What?" he asked, pulling back to look at her. "Oh, that's right." He started to push himself away from her. "You have to leave."

"Shut up," she hissed, throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him back down to her.

"But you have things-" This time she cut him off by taking his lips in hers, and when he continued to fight, she slipped a hand between them and wrapped it around him, and he gave in instantly.

_God, he was such a man. _

"Elizabeth," he growled, burying his face in her curls as she continued to stroke him. She stopped long enough for him to think she was done, but then she tightened her hand around him again, eliciting a low, throaty groan. "Uh, uh."

"You always ruin my fun," she said, letting him tug her hand to pin it to the mattress beside her head.

"It'll be over before it starts," he muttered, gently kissing her before moving his mouth to the column of her throat.

She hissed as he pulled her skin between his teeth and sucked hard, her hand tightening around his as she arched against him. He took the opportunity and released her hand to slide it between her legs, the other pressing her hips into the bed. His name came from her lips in a low moan as he traced her slit with his fingertip, trying to buck against the force of his hand and get him to touch her where she wanted.

"Jas…please," she panted, frustrated as he continued to trace her slit with his knuckle, never going completely inside of her. "I swear to god, if you don't do something soon, I really will get out of bed and…" She sucked in a breath as he finally eased his finger inside her, his thumb gently swiping over the tiny bud between her legs.

"Better?" he asked, his mouth hovering over her breast before swirling his tongue around the hardened peak and drawing it into his mouth.

"Yes," she moaned, raking a hand through his hair to tug it playfully, causing him to suck harder in response.

He stopped long enough to trace his tongue from one breast to the other, making sure to pay them equal attention, his strokes slow and steady as if he was determined to draw her release out as slowly as possible.

"You're evil," she muttered, scraping her nails across the top of his back.

"You wanted to get out of bed," he reminded her, stretching to kiss her as he continued to stroke her steadily.

"Payback, huh?" she mumbled, arching her eyebrow.

He nodded, lifting his hips from the bed as she snaked her arm between them. "Elizabeth," he warned, swallowing hard when she wrapped her hand around him and pumped him hard in her fist.

"What?" she asked innocently, biting her lip as his thumb pressed against her, rubbing hard. "Jas…I swear…" She moaned loudly, tossing her head to the side as she shifted so that her free hand joined the other to grip him tightly in her palms.

"Uh, uh," he grunted, sinking his teeth into the nape of her neck. She cried out loudly, her hands loosening up just enough for him to quickly pull them away.

"Damn you," she hissed, more upset that he stopped touching her than that she'd lost the challenge she'd started.

Both their hands rushed beneath the pillows at the same time, fumbling for the stash of condoms they'd been using for the past few days. Jason scowled in frustration when he came up empty handed, and Elizabeth frowned, sticking out her lower lip.

"Looks like we're going to have to get out of bed after all," she pouted, slowly sliding her hand from beneath the pillow.

The morning sun hit the foil of the square wrapper in her hand, and Jason had seized it before she could tease him further. Within seconds the wrapper was tossed aside and Elizabeth was slipping the condom over his length, giving a gentle tug that caused him to swear just for good measure.

"Mmm," she sighed, settling her hands at his hips as he positioned himself at her entrance, anticipating the moment that he finally… "Ohhh."

Jason groaned in reply, sliding his hands beneath her legs to draw them around his waist, immediately finding the perfect rhythm to get them to a hurried release. Elizabeth's hands gripped his shoulders as she arched her hips, meeting him thrust for thrust, and minutes later, she was coming apart below him, his name coming from her lips in low moan. He buried his face in her curls as he grinded out his own release, his voice muffled against her silky hair.

"God, that was…" She trailed off as she lifted her head to press a kiss to the side of his face, her hands smoothing up and down his back.

"Mmhmm," he agreed, lifting himself off of her, worrying like he always did, that his weight would crush her.

"In fact," she said, sitting up on her elbows so she could kiss him, "anytime I want to get out of bed, you should do just that."

"Anytime?" he challenged, resting his forehead against hers.

"Any-" She stopped when her phone vibrated on the nightstand and craned her neck to look at the caller ID. "I have to get that."

"Not if it requires you to get out of bed," he teased, easing himself off of her and rolling onto his back.

"It's Lulu," she said, scooting across the bed to grab her phone.

Jason muttered something she couldn't hear as he got out of bed and crossed the room to the bathroom, and she imagined he was complaining about her interrupting. It probably didn't help that despite their amazing few days in bed, Elizabeth had also spent a good amount of time wondering what was going on between Lulu and Johnny.

As far as Elizabeth knew, Lulu had agreed to stay in town for a few days, using Jason being in the hospital as an excuse. And they hadn't so much as heard a peep from the blonde since the morning after Jason's accident when she'd brought them breakfast from _Kelly's_ – Johnny in tow, though he chose to linger in the hallway.

"Hey," she answered, leaning against the headboard. She contemplated between covering herself or not, but decided that Lulu would probably be against having a phone call while naked, let alone post sex, so covering herself seemed like the least Elizabeth could do.

Clearly this woman had gotten into Elizabeth's head _too_ much.

"Elizabeth! Is this a bad time? I really need to talk to you."

"Uhhh…" She sucked in a breath as she Jason opened the bathroom door and yawned as he crawled back into bed beside her – _still naked._ She'd have to get Lulu to teach him about phone etiquette.

"Elizabeth?"

"No, it's fine. I was hoping you'd call before you left town."

"You know that I would," she murmured, her voice hitching towards the end of the sentence, "but fortunately I'm not leaving town."

"You aren't?" she grinned, reaching over to smack Jason on the arm. He shook his head and rolled onto his back, his eyes fluttering closed. "Are you really staying?"

"Yes, I'm staying."

"Oh, this is so great, Lulu!"

Jason snickered beside her, clearly amused that Elizabeth was relieved to hear that the woman she once wanted to run off wasn't going anywhere. She smacked him again – harder this time, and threatened to do it a third when he glared at her.

"I took your advice, so it's all thanks to you. You were right about doing what makes me happy, and to – to hell with my family if they don't like it!"

Elizabeth's lips turned upward at the awkward sound of Lulu swearing, but she was too excited to focus on the fact that _just maybe_ she had corrupted the woman a tiny bit. "What did they say?"

"Well, my father is furious, but my mother – I think she's okay, and I'm okay, which makes everything okay. And I just love him and I'm tired of that not being good enough."

She smiled softly, glancing over at Jason who was peeking at her from the corner of his eye, a smug grin on his face. If he kept it up, she would _really_ slug him. "It is good enough. Sometimes coming to terms with your own feelings is harder than anything else, especially when everyone around you is so sure of what you feel."

Jason's smugness faded, instantly replaced by something else, and soon he was scooting towards her, his hand snaking around her waist to pull her against him. Lulu continued to talk, but Elizabeth had a hard time paying attention as he tugged her earlobe between his teeth and whispered for her to get off the phone.

"Eliza-"

"Yeah, I'm still here. I just have some other things going on," she said, sucking in a breath as he cupped her breast. She tried to smack him away, but he didn't budge, responding by pinching her nipple hard. "Son of a – Sorry, Lulu. Jason is just a huge baby to tend to. He requires all kinds of things – and I swear-"

"Oh, well, I can let you go-"

"No, it's-" She bit her tongue as he slid a hand between her legs, pushing her thighs apart.

"Actually, I should go…" She narrowed her eyes at him in annoyance. "Did you, uh, need something?"

"Fuck," he groaned, when she elbowed him in the stomach and sat up to pull herself away from him.

"Jesus, Jason,I didn't mean to do it so hard," she apologized, grimacing when she heard Lulu laugh on the other end.

"No, I just wanted to ask a favor."

"What's that?" Elizabeth asked, reaching over to rub her hand gently against his side. He mumbled appreciatively, grabbing her hand to tug it between his own legs.

"Elizabeth?"

"Yeah, I'm here. What do you need?" she asked, shaking her head as Jason tried to get her to wrap her hand around him.

"Well, I wanted to see if you could still help plan the wedding. I mean, I know it was supposed to be happening in a few days, but-"

"Jason!" she cried out loudly, when Jason snatched the phone from her and pressed it to his ear.

"Lulu, she'll plan the wedding. It'll be perfect, I promise, but she has to go now," he muttered, snapping it closed before she could reply. He tossed it off the side of the bed and pulled Elizabeth below him, pressing his erection firmly against her thigh.

Seriously, where did this man get his stamina? It was completely unreal and yet so very incredible.

"Jason, she needed me-"

"I'm doing what you told me to," he interrupted, sliding his hands over her hips.

"What are you-"

"You were getting out of bed," he cut in, nuzzling his face against her neck.

"One problem, we're out of – I hate you," she said, laughing when he flashed a foil package, knowing that she should have figured he'd have more _somewhere_.

"Webber, you should know by now," he replied, tearing it open with his teeth, "that I'm always prepared…meaning you aren't getting out of this bed anytime soon."


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Jason did let Elizabeth out of bed – _two days later. _Partly because they did run out of condoms, but mostly because he knew the quicker she finished helping Lulu with the wedding, the sooner he could coax her back into bed. Being on bed rest was making him very lazy.

He blamed Elizabeth for that – he couldn't get enough of her company these days. And sure, the sex was really, _really_ good, but nothing beat falling asleep beside her and knowing she'd be there in the morning.

He couldn't remember the last time he genuinely enjoyed a woman's company for this long, and months ago, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to take Elizabeth for this long. Most days, they weren't able to stand in the same room without picking some kind of fight, and now arguing seemed to be the last thing on their minds.

Instead, they spent their time talking about her bad taste in television shows and all the places he'd visited that she'd never been. Their biggest arguments revolved around whether they wanted pizza or chinese or if they should actually get dressed. She usually won out on the food choice, and he won out on the clothing – _or the lack thereof for that matter._

It wasn't like she'd stopped doing any of the things that drove him crazy. He just found himself appreciating the way she left her wet towels on the floor and left the half-eaten takeout containers on the nightstand.

Of course, it was easy to ignore such small things when Elizabeth was naked.

Grinning, he leaned back in his desk chair, thinking of the way she'd come down the stairs and straddled him before leaving to meet Lulu. Yeah, they'd broken in that chair too. Actually they'd broken in most of the penthouse, but there was still enough left for a few more lazy days.

He shook his head, trying to focus on the invoices in front of him. He'd promised Elizabeth he wouldn't work too much while she was gone, but the moment she'd left, he was antsy and just had to do something. Ritchie had been handling things since Jason got out of the hospital, and he was sure that the idiot would burn the whole business down without him. Thankfully Johnny had been helping him out and working hard to correct all the other mistakes he made, all the while managing to convince Lulu to stay in town.

Only O'Brien could handle it all with so much ease.

He dropped his pen when someone knocked the door behind him, and he couldn't stop his heart from rising in his chest at the thought of it being Elizabeth, even though he knew it wasn't. The knock was too hard to be hers. Although most of the time she burst in loudly, making the most annoying of entrances, but he may even appreciate that now.

At least he knew all the right ways to shut her up immediately.

Fuck, he'd become one of _those_ guys – the ones where suddenly everything was about a girl, but it wasn't like anyone knew what exactly was going on in his head.

God, Elizabeth would never let him hear the end of it if she knew any of this.

"Son of a bitch," he muttered, flicking the lock on the door and pulling it open to find Johnny standing in the hallway.

"Uh…hey," O'Brien said, looking nervous and out of place.

Jason knew that he'd heard him swearing on the other side of the door and that Johnny probably thought he was swearing at him. He wasn't, but he wasn't going to tell him whyo, or rather whoy, he was cursing at himself.

"What's up?" Jason asked, stepping aside and waving him into the penthouse.

"I knew Elizabeth was – was meeting with Lulu. I thought maybe we could…talk," he answered hesitantly, his handspants stuck stiffly in his pockets and his shoulders pulled tightly inward. It was like he was trying to take up as little space as possible.

"Yeah, sure," he said, kicking the door closed with his foot. He nodded towards the invoices on the desk. "I was looking over some of the paperwork Ritchie faxed over. You two have kept things in order in the last week so…thank you."

"Doing what I should," Johnny shrugged, rocking back and forth on his feet.

Jason nodded again, scratching the back of his neck, not sure what to say to him. It was strange to be so awkward with his best friend, but he was still torn between letting it all go and holding onto what Johnny had done. Except that if they were ever going to move forward, Jason didn't have much of a choice.

"Uh, look…" He sighed, rubbing his hands over his face.

"I know you're still angry," Johnny said understandingly, "and I know you know that I'm sorry." He swallowed hard and turned away, starting to pace back and forth across the living room. "I couldn't stand the idea of losing her. It took – it took me back to where I used to be, and I know that's not an excuse, but…"

"I understand," he mumbled seriously, trying to step into O'Brien's shoes.

Granted, Jason and Elizabeth hadn't been together for very long, but if for some reason she walked away, he imagined the first thing he would do is drown his sorrows;. tThat he'd probably try to pick up some woman to forget, though he knew he'd never actually go through with taking her to bed.

And that was where Johnny had been.

"I…I trust that you won't do anything like that again," he continued, looking his friend in the eye. _"Ever."_

"Never," he replied, nodding firmly as he let out a heavy sigh. "So…I, uh, I guess this means I still have my best man, right?"

"Who else are you going to ask?" Jason laughed, folding his arms over his chest.

"There's always Ritchie," he shrugged.

"Oh, fuck you," he hissed.

"You're just pissed because he's got a thing for your woman," Johnny said, slipping his hands from his pockets as his shoulders relaxed.

"I'll fire his ass," Jason muttered, walking over to the desk to gather up the invoices. "Why don't you make him finish these?"

"Drowning him in paperwork, huh?" he laughed, taking the stack of papers.

"We'll be too busy to do it," he replied seriously. "You're getting married tomorrow."

"Yeah," Johnny said slowly, knowing there was something more.

Jason reached out and clapped him on the shoulder, squeezing it hard. "We've got to have a bachelor party."

Elizabeth frowned, nibbling her lip as she stared at the hideous bouquet of flowers the florist had just sat in front of her. It was like a bad prom corsage; too much baby's breath among entirely too many pastels. Lulu, of course, loved it, and she quickly had to remind herself this wasn't her wedding.

_Thank Ggod. _

The entire morning had been spent swallowing what Lulu had managed to do on her own since Jason refused to let her leave the penthouse. She tried to do as much planning as possible over the phone, but Jason got so damn huffy about the attention she paid Lulu. It would have been cute that he was jealous of a wedding she was planning for someone else, if it didn't drive her completely crazy.

Okay, so everything about Jason drove her crazy.

Especially how any time she actually got close to leaving, he reminded her that he had a concussion and bumps and bruises, and while it had been days since the accident, it was enough to convince her to crawl back into bed.

Not that much coaxing was really needed – the right look from Jason would make her do anything, and she couldn't stand it. Hell, he wasn't even looking at her right now, and she wanted to do anything _with_ him.

She hated herself so damn much. Here she was, helping Lulu and finishing up flower displays and last minute calls to the caterer, only to be thinking about Jason – naked. To be fair, he wasn't always naked. Sometimes she thought about his smile and the stupid face he made when they watched her favorite TV shows.

Son of a bitch.

She was becoming one of _those_ women – where everything revolved around a boy. She was just like fucking Lulu.

"You don't like it?" the blonde asked timidly, nervously turning the flowers in her hand.

"No, it's…it's fine," she muttered, smiling down at the flowers, knowing that in Lulu's eyes they probably didn't matter.

It was just a bouquet; a formality required for walking down the aisle of a church to marry the man she loved. Never mind that it would end up in every single wedding photograph and haunt the poor woman for the rest of her life.

God, did Elizabeth even want to think about the wedding dress?

Lulu admitted that shopping in Europe with her mother hadn't gone as planned, but the woman had flown into town the day before, and they'd gone into the city. She just hoped Laura Spencer had more taste than her daughter.

Thankfully Elizabeth had won over the bridesmaid battle, and they'd just gone to a shop in town and she'd picked out a gorgeous red dress that looked much better than that fuschia mess that Lulu had chosen. Seriously, the woman shoulde be thankful that Elizabeth was around to save her from making this entire wedding a disaster.

She was going to hell for making fun of Lulu in her head like this.

"You hate it," Lulu argued, tossing the bouquet on the counter and shaking her head at the florist.

"No, I don't," she countered, plucking it from the florist's hands. "I just think it's a bit…much." She glanced at Lulu before she started pulling the flowers apart, lessening the floral arrangement by more than half. "It should be simple…elegant. I mean, you don't want the flowers to steal the show. You're the one that's really on display."

"Very true," she agreed. "I still can't believe how good you are at this stuff."

"Spent a lot of time dreaming, I guess," she shrugged, handing the flowers back to the florist so she could box themit up.

"Well, maybe someday soon we'll be planning your wedding," she laughed, poking her in the side.

"Uh…I don't think so," she said, stiffening when the blonde continued to jab her. "Jason and I are…"

"Oh, he adores you, and you adore him, so…"

"I guess…" She swallowed hard, not wanting to think about a wedding.

Jesus, didn't everyone realize that half of their relationship had been pretend? No, of course they didn't. Lying was hard work – though technically it wasn't a lie.? Or was it?

Oh, whatever. It's not like she and Jason we're going to actually get married. They'd kill one another for sure...or spend a lot of time naked, a thought that made Elizabeth grin widely.

"See! You want to marry him! And have the whole picket fence deal! And babies and-"

"Whoa, no babies…ever," she interrupted, holding up her hand.

God, Elizabeth couldn't even imagine.

This was precisely why she refused to have sex without a condom.

"We need to discuss other things," Elizabeth said, still trying to get past the thought of Jason and babies. "You know like…your bachelorette party."

"Oh, no," she replied, shaking her head.

She laughed, looping her arm through Lulu's. "Oh, yes."

"Jason?" Elizabeth called out, dropping a bag of food onto his desk as she came into the penthouse. Glancing around, she walked over to drape her bridesmaid dress over the back of the chair and called out his name again.

"Hey," he muttered, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Shit," she cried, stiffening against him as he startled her. "I hate when you do that."

"Sorry," he whispered, nuzzling her hair away from her neck to press his lips against it.

"Mmm, I like this apology," she said, smoothing her hands over his arms and linking their fingers together. She rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes as his tongue snaked out and slowly worked it's way up to her ear. "Jas…I can't. I don't have time."

"Me either," he murmured, loosening their hands so he could spin her around and pull her towards him. "I have to meet Johnny."

"What?" she asked, sliding her hands around his neck as she arched her back to look up at him. "Are you sure-"

"Are you trying to get me into bed?"

"I don't have time," she replied, pouting her lip because as much fun as a bachelorette party could be, very few things beat being in bed with Jason. "I have to meet Lulu."

"Really," he muttered curiously, arching an eyebrow.

"She's getting married tomorrow."

"And…?"

"Well she needs a – oh, wait," she laughed, shaking her head. "You're having Johnny a bachelor party, aren't you?"

"Maybe."

"As long as it's not at Jake's," she shrugged. "Oh, and as long as you're not driving."

"I'll take a cab home, but we're going to Jake's."

"No, because we're going to Jake's," she replied, placing a hand on her chest. "And we can't have a bachelor and bachelorette party for the same couple at the same place."

"We have more people coming," Jason argued, grinning as if clearly enjoying this.

"It's not my fault that Lulu has no friends here."

"Invite some of yours."

"Oh, is that supposed to be funny?" she asked, pulling herself out of his arms and planting her hands on her hips. "All my friends are guys...which means they'll be at Johnny's." She hesitated, working her lip back and forth between her teeth. "Though I'm sure they'd much rather come drink with us."

"Not funny," he hissed, slipping his arm around her waist and pulling her against him. "It'll be fun to be at Jake's…we can sneak off."

"You have such a one track mind," she said, smacking him on the shoulder. "And you can't have them at the same place."

"Why not?" he asked rolling his eyes.

"Because you can't."

He just glared at her.

"And…because it's bad luck for the bride to see the groom the night before the wedding," she muttered, getting flustered that he was taking her spot for his stupid bachelor party. "Can't you guys go somewhere else?"

"Johnny wants to go to Jake's."

"So does Lulu."

"Which is why we can have this together."

"Or not," she sighed, wishing he would just get it.

Stupid man and his lack of appreciation for tradition.

"Fine, then go to the Metro Court."

She clenched her jaw and took a deep breath, suddenly realizing that wasn't such a bad idea. "Why not," she agreed, pulling herself out of his arms and walking back over to the desk. She grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder. "I'm sure Jasper will pay for our tab."

Jason's eyes darkened instantly, and she laughed loudly as she hurried out of the penthouse, knowing he'd followed right after her. She'd barely gotten the button pressed before he was on her, pinning her against the wall in the hallway and taking her mouth in his.

God, she even loved when he was jealous.

"You know I was just kidding," she murmured against his mouth, arching her back as he fumbled with the zipper on her jeans.

"Mmhmm," he whispered, tugging her jeans down before starting on his own. "I'm paying before he does."

She laughed, wiggling the rest of the way out of her pants, no longer caring that she was going to be late. "There are cameras," she reminded him, grabbing the foil wrapper and tearing it open in her hands. She slipped it over him in a hurry, and he had his arms around her, lifting her onto him.

"You don't seem to care," he groaned, pressing her against the wall.

"Not really," she admitted, sliding her arms around his neck and kissing him hard. "And just so you know…"

"Yeah," he hissed, resting his forehead on hers.

She grinned, leaning forward just enough to press her lips to his. "I can pay my own tab."


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Jason sat back in his chair and took a long sip from his beer, his eyes shifting to the front of the bar, where Elizabeth was seated next to Lulu and a couple other women he'd never seen before. They were dressed just like Lulu; starched pencil skirts, white blouses, and ballet flats, looking not only out of place, but boring in comparison to Elizabeth in her jeans, lacey camisole, and heels.

He was also very biased.

"Alright," he said, getting up from the chair and doing a quick headcount. "I'm going to go get a round of shots."

"You just want to talk to Elizabeth," Ritchie replied, flashing him a grin.

"Fuck you," Jason hissed, grabbing his beer from the table.

"Be easy on the guy," Johnny said, shaking his head. "He's just jealous that you won't let him talk to her."

"That's not changing anytime soon," he muttered, starting towards the bar, his eyes narrowed when he noticed a couple of guys had crowded around the girls. _Yes, crowded._ Their arms draped across the back of the chairs like they belonged there.

He knew it was a natural situation – women out for a bachelorette party often got their drinks paid for, but he had been one of those men in this very bar before, and well, it was impossible to trust it.

The Metro Court would have probably been better, but then he wouldn't be able to take in every smile she tossed his way or watch the way she crossed and uncrossed her legs, her heel dangling off the end of her foot.

This really was fucking ridiculous.

"Jason?"

"Yeah, sorry, Coleman," he muttered, tossing a fifty down on the bar. "Ten shots of tequila."

"You kids are something else," the bartender laughed, lining shots up on the bar. "You can go over and talk to her, you know. It won't ruin the party."

Jason shook his head, taking the tray of shots Coleman had lined up. "It's more fun this way," he replied, giving Elizabeth a long look before heading to the back of the bar.

"This reminds me of some of the pubs back home," Lulu's brunette- haired friend said for the tenth time since they'd gotten to the bar. Elizabeth kind of wanted to punch her, but figured that was rude since she couldn't even remember the woman's name.

She was'd been relatively happy when Lulu called and said that some of her friends had flown in to surprise her, and she sounded so damn happy that people were actually supporting her that Elizabeth couldn't help butto be excited.

That was a very bad idea.

They were like Lulu, who she genuinely liked, but having three of them sitting with her was too much. Their conversations circled around how different Port Charles was from Europe and how they couldn't believe Lulu was settling here, but that Johnny was in fact a babe.

Yes, they had called Johnny O'Brien a babe.

She couldn't help but wonder if she had ever sounded as silly and stupid as these women and knew that she probably had, and she almost hated herself for it.

"So, are we going to the meet the boys?" the brunette asked, sipping her Cosmo.

Elizabeth loved the look on Coleman's face when they started ordering all their girly drinks. She understood why they liked them because she fancied one from time to time, but this bar was just not a place where you drank from a martini glass. A customer was lucky if their shot glasses were clean, but alcohol was supposed to kill germs, right?

"Kind of ruins tradition," Lulu shrugged, stirring her umbrella around in her drink as she looked over at the boys.

"Oh, come on," she pressed, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "If I'm in the states, I might as well have a fling with an American man."

She rolled her eyes, taking a swig of her beer as she slid off her stool. "I'm going to get us a round of drinks," she muttered, walking down the bar to Coleman.

If she had to listen to these stupid European whores go on about how everything was so American when they had grown up here themselves but somehow forgotten about it, she was going to get good and drunk. And hopefully she could get them good and drunk in the process and make fun of them without them realizing that's what she was doing.

She bit her lip and leaned against the bar, waiting impatiently for Coleman to finish up with another customer. Craning her neck, she looked towards the back of the bar, her eye catching Jason's as he leaned across a pool table to take a shot. There was nothing sexier than Jason bent across a pool table – well, except for when he was bending over her.

God, it was going to be a long night.

"Elizabeth?"

"Sorry," she murmured, shaking herself from her thoughts and looking at Coleman, who already had the tequila bottle in hand. "I'll take seven. One for each of them and four for me."

"No, no, no," Jason said, shaking his head the second Ritchie brought up the idea of going to a strip club.

"Dude, Elizabeth won't care. I'll go ask her for you," he slurred, pushing himself up from the table.

"Or not," he replied, glaring at him as he looked over at Johnny. "Seriously? Strippers?"

"It's the last time you'll get to pay women to take their clothes off and not feel guilty about it," Ritchie said, slapping his hand on the table. "Do you want to miss out on that?"

Johnny grunted, rolling his eyes. "I don't have to pay women to take their clothes off now, and if I want to stick dollar bills in someone's underwear-"

"No way," one of the other warehouse workers chimed in, knocking over his beer bottle as he leaned towards O'Brien. "Lulu does not let you stick dollar bills in her underwear."

"I don't want to hear this," Jason moaned, grabbing one of the many shots that had appeared on the table in the last hour.

"Just because you don't like to talk about banging Elizabeth on desks and-"

"Watch it," he warned, taking a deep breath and asking himself yet again why he continued to keep Ritchie on as an employee.

"You won't let me have any fun. I mean, months ago you were all but letting me take her on your pool table."

"Rtichie, I swear to fucking God, I'll kill you," Jason threatened, flinging a handful of peanuts in at him. "And I didn't _let_ you do anything."

Sighing heavily, he ran a hand over his face and grabbed another shot, his eyes swinging towards the bar where Elizabeth was doing the same as him – tossing back shot after shot. She looked as if she was having about as much fun as he was, and he wondered if they were already one of those pathetic couples that would rather sit at home and watch Jeopardy while eating TV dinners.

_Fuck, they were pretty damn close. _

"Alright," Jason said, getting up from the table. "Let's go, but we're not going to those shitty places you fuckers like. We're going to one of the nice ones."

"Ooo, Morgan's busting out the classy shit," Ritchie laughed, finishing off his beer.

Shaking his head, he started towards the bar to pay off their tab, stopping long enough to admire how expertly Elizabeth took her shot – the whole lick it, slam it, suck it bit she loved so much. If he wanted to stuff dollar bills into anyone's underwear it was hers, and part of him was pretty sure he could get away with it.

"Jason?"

"Oh, here," he replied, tossing a wad of cash down on the bar. "We're heading out. Johnny wants to go pay women to take their clothes off."

The bartender laughed, counting the money. "You clear that with your woman yet?"

"What?"

Coleman shook his head and nodded towards Elizabeth. "Tell her you're going to a strip club before you go. That way when she gets mad later you can tell her you asked permission."

Not only were they one of those pathetic couples who'd rather sit at home, but now they were one of those couples who had to clear things with each other.

_Son of a bitch. _

What the fuck was he going to do if she told him not to go? He'd never hear the end of it from the guys.

"Yeah, I guess," he sighed, starting towards her and ignoring the catcalls from the men behind him.

"Oh, here comes one of them now," the brunette muttered, looking Jason up and down as he approached. Thankfully Elizabeth had finally figured out that her name was Sam, which meant that if she continued to look at Jason like that, she was going to slug her.

Ah, shit. She was being all jealous and stupid. Swearing under her breath, she grabbed another shot, wondering how many it would take to forget that she was acting like such a fucking girl.

"Mmm," Sam purred, tapping her finger on a shot glass as if she knew what the hell to do with it. Elizabeth had to educate them all on how to take a shot, and seeing as Sam was so incompetent, she'd be happy to shove it down her throat. "He is-"

"Mine," Elizabeth hissed, sliding off her stool and hurrying over to Jason, who grinned as she approached. Taking his hand in hers, she pulled him past the women, glaring at Sam as they passed, and didn't stop until they were in the hallway to the bathroom. "I'm going to kill that bitch."

"Too many Lulu's at once?" he asked, leaning towards her as she pressed her back against the wall and slid her arms around his neck.

"Lulu, I can handle, but it's her stupid friends, especially the one who is determined to take one of you to bed tonight."

"One of us?" he asked, arching an eyebrow, picking up on her jealously.

"Fine, you, and I swear to Ggod-" She stopped, burying her face in his chest as she slid her arms around him. "I'm being stupid."

"Nah, it's cute," he slurred, kissing her on the top of her head.

"Don't patronize me," she moaned, feeling like a complete idiot.

She was not the jealous girlfriend – _ever._ Even when she was dating stupid, cheating bastards, she never acted like this.

"I'm not," he muttered, pulling her away from him so he could look at her. "Hey, I got jealous earlier and…well, you remember what happened."

"Jason," she sighed, her cheeks flushing when she thought about the way she'd let him drop her pants in the hallway outside his apartment and just go at her right there. "We're disgusting."

"What?" he laughed, his eyes snapping to the doorway when he saw Ritchie and a couple of the other guys looking at him. One glare and they disappeared instantly.

"Remember how we used to always sit around and look at tacky, PDA couples, and mock them?"

"Yeah," he grunted, knowing where this was headed.

"We are them now."

"Is that so bad?" he asked, leaning down to kiss her as he backed her up against the wall.

"I don't get jealous," she replied.

"Me either," he muttered, moving his lips to her neck.

"I don't do PDAs."

"This isn't public."

"Jason," she cried, smacking his hands away when they slipped beneath her shirt. "You're drunk."

"So are you."

"Yeah, but being with those women is sobering." He laughed against her neck, his hands tugging on the material of her shirt again. "Jason…"

"What?"

"They're watching you," she laughed, her eyes on the doorway.

"Fuck," he muttered, tearing himself away from her and glaring at his friends. He scrubbed a hand over his face and glanced back at Elizabeth. "Sorry."

Her lips hitched into a crooked smile. "You know I don't always mind an audience."

"You're awful," he said, grabbing her by the hand and pulling her towards him. "Hey."

"Jas-"

"They wanna go to some stupid strip club."

"Okay," she shrugged, looking at him confused.

His brow furrowed as he stared at her, waiting for something more. "That's it?"

"Jason, I figured that's where you would end up…I mean – wait, did you think I was going to be mad?" she asked, laughing to herself. "You were asking if you could go?"

"Well, it's naked women and dollar bills and-"

"You're asking permission," she interrupted, sliding her arms around his neck and pulling him into a kiss. "That is the sweetest thing ever."

"You're drunk."

"No, I wish I was," she said, kissing him again before pulling away.

"You're not mad?"

"No."

"Really? Cause if you're going to be mad later, I think you should just yell now or something. I don't want to come home and find you all-"

"Oh, Ggod," she interrupted, pushing him towards the doorway. "We're really disgusting with this whole jealous, PDA, permission stuff." She knew then and there she had no choice but to go drown her independent sorrows – well, what little she had left. By morning, she'd have to deal with being a silly girl who was completely enamored with her boyfriend, thus becoming everything she hated.

_Oh, hell no. _

They were like Johnny and Lulu.

Jason yawned, lifting his head from his pillow when he heard the sound of his door slamming, followed by hushed voices. Too confused as to whether or not it was just his drunken stupor or someonething actually breaking and entering, her rolled back over and tugged his pillow over his head.

Damn, he was thirsty.

The strip club had been a bust. Had he been single he might have actually enjoyed it, but the entire time all he could do was think about Elizabeth saying the couple aspect of their relationship freaked her out. That in turn caused him to drink – _a lot_, and before long…yeah, he was obliterated.

Johnny had barely drank at all, and practically carried him to bed, saying he'd call Elizabeth to come by and check on him, but Jason wasn't sure if that was a good idea. They kept telling one another how so much had happened so fast, and he wondered if it was too much. They'd never been so serious about their past relationships, so maybe they were just caught up in the fun, and when all that died down, what would be left?

Hell, he couldn't think about it.

He wanted a drink just to forget the possibility of this not working out because he suddenly envisioned himself ending up like Johnny and having to be shipped off to rehab with a Lulu-like presence being the only thing that could save him. And all the while he'd want Elizabeth to be the person who saved him, and – _this was just not a good fantasy at all. _

"Shit," came Elizabeth's tired and slurring voice as she fell against the doorway and laughed.

"Elizabeth?"

"Yeah."

"You okay?" he asked, sliding his pillow off his head.

"I am drunk," she answered light-heartedly, bracing one hand on the bed as she kicked off her shoes and climbed into bed beside him. "You know…once you get shots into Lulu's friends and you get past the fact that one of them is just a tramp, those girls are so much fun."

"Yeah," he said again, rubbing his eyes as he looked at her. He could only make out her shadow as she slipped beneath the covers, her body scooting over beside his. _Her bare body. _"Where are you clothes?"

"Around," she muttered, tugging the blanket back and sliding her leg over his waist as she moved to straddle him.

"Where are yours?" she asked, skimming her hands over his waist.

"Around," he grunted, groaning as she presseding her lips to his chest, her tongue tracing a blazing, wet trail across his skin. "Elizabeth?"

"What?" she asked, her tongue tracing a path up to his neck, where she nibbled gently before sucking his skin between her teeth.

"Mmmm," he moaned in reply, swallowing hard as she forcefully raked her fingers through his hair. "What are you doing?"

"I've been thinking about this all night," she confessed, her mouth hovering over his. "_All night,_ Jason."

"Elizabeth," he hissed, tugging her hands away and hurrying to pull himself up so that he was leaning against the headboard.

"What? Did I do something?" she asked, wiggling her hips as she settled into his lip, pressing against him in just the right way.

"I, uh, I'm drunk."

"Me too," she laughed.

"Yeah."

He felt her stiffen, her hands tensing against his chest. "Okay," she murmured, confused. "How was the strip-"

"Stupid," he muttered, taking her hands and linking their fingers together. "Look, I – you know at the bar, you – the couple stuff – I just…" He swallowed hard, suddenly wishing he'd just let her have her way with him. "I'm drunk."

"What about it?" she asked, sucking in a nervous breath. "I mean – I know I said things – but I just – it's weird, you know. I've never been so – so like this before and – and I…" She leaned forward, resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm drunk too."

"I – I like the couple stuff, you know," he said hesitantly, sliding his hand up and down her back.

"Aw, Jason," she sighed, tipping her head back and pressing a kiss to his chin. "I do too. Did you think – oh, I messed things up."

"No, you didn't," he muttered, regretting ever bringing any of it up. He felt secure in his feelings for her and what she felt for him, but he knew that if Elizabeth got scared, she'd cower away and he didn't want that to happen.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm just drunk."

She laughed, snuggling against him as he slipped his arms around her. "Good. I thought about it – us a lot tonight," she replied quietly. "And I know it's going to sound dumb…"

"What?"

"It's going to sound really dumb."

"Say it, Webber."

"Well," she started, sitting so she could somewhat look at him in the dark, "I was thinking about Johnny and Lulu. Remember how annoying and gross we thought they were when they first came to town?"

"Yeah."

"I just – I realized that they're sort of disgustingly cute," she continued, laughing at herself as she rubbed her hand over her face. "And I think – I know that there's no one else I'd rather be disgustingly cute with…except _you_."


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36

"What is that?" Elizabeth moaned, smacking Jason on the chest when a terrible, incessant beeping sound filled the room. Her stomach started churning before she even opened her eyes, the entire night flashing through her mind.

Jake's.

Tequila shots.

Table dancing.

A long cab ride.

Being disgustingly cute.

"Shit," she groaned, peeling herself off of Jason and rolling onto her back.

He muttered something in his sleep and she smacked him again, letting out a whimper when the flutters in her stomach continued. She couldn't decide if they were from the tequila or the memory of telling Jason she wanted to be disgustingly cute with him.

_She was such a freaking girl. _

"Jason," she hissed, kicking him in the shin with what little energy she actually had.

"What the fuck-" He sat up beside her, rubbing his hands over his eyes as if he was confused by the fact that they were in bed together.

"Turn that sound off," she whined, tugging a pillow over her face.

_God, disgustingly cute? Really? _

It wasn't that it was a lie. The second she thought about it – _really thought about it_ – she realized that they were just like them. Elizabeth nagged Jason about everything, and he took it as it came, never complaining. And he was always looking at her with that stupid, dopey grin just like the one that Johnny gave Lulu. They had their inside jokes about things they did and places they went, and they could look at one another and know what they were thinking.

They really were disgustingly cute.

"Better?" he asked, tearing the alarm clock off the nightstand and tossing it onto the floor. "We have to get up soon."

"No," she moaned, leaning into him as he snuggled up beside her.

"It's noon," he muttered, curling around her.

She couldn't help but smile because obviously the whole disgustingly cute thing hadn't fazed him one bit, and just maybe he wanted to be disgustingly cute with her too.

Okay, so she was being a girl, but it was allowed.

"What?" she asked, sitting up hurriedly, one hand cradling her head as she wrapped the other around her middle. It was far too early for rapid movement. "Noon! I have to get Lulu and – shit, she's downstairs."

"Huh?" he asked, pulling himself up beside her.

"Lulu, she came back here with me last night. She didn't want to see Johnny before the wedding, and oh, Ggod – I am going to be sick," she said, scooting to the edge of the bed and slowly getting to her feet. "Tequila is not a good idea."

"Don't you dare," she warned, when he gave the slightest hint of a smile as she started for the bathroom. "Put some pants on and go check on her. And start coffee and ugh…" She slammed the door behind her and raced for the toilet.

"Nervous?" Jason asked, tapping his finger against his coffee mug as he sat across from Lulu in the kitchen. She didn't look as bad as Elizabeth had when he'd taken her a bottle of water upstairs, but he could tell she wasn't feeling well either.

"Not really," she shrugged, taking a sip off her coffee. "If anything, I'm just anxious. I know it's silly, but I've known this wasis what I wanted from the second John and I met."

"You've been good for him," he said awkwardly, not really sure what to say to her. This had been one of the few times, if not the only one, that the two of them had been left alone without some kind of buffer.

"Elizabeth helped me, really," she confessed, staring into her drink. "She reminded me that if someone loves you, they always love you, regardless of circumstance. My father is angry that I'm going through with this, but over time he'll get over it I think."

"Is he coming?" he asked, desperate to keep the conversation going, though he was really wondering where Elizabeth's advice had come from.

"No," she frowned, clearing her throat. "My mother is here though, so I have one half to go off of. And I'll have you and Elizabeth there, which means a lot."

"We're happy for both of you."

"I know, which is why I love so much that you are here," she said, taking a long sip of her drink. "My friends that flew in – they are great and wonderful in their own way, but…" She paused, clearly not wanting to say anything overly insulting about them. "They don't believe in love or monogamy, and they think I'm insane for marrying John and moving to Port Charles."

"Well, I would say marrying Johnny's insane," he replied, giving her a faint smile.

"Maybe," she laughed, shaking her head, "but you and Elizabeth get the rest of it. I guess it's easy to want your friends to be happy and to want love when you have it yourself. John was so worried about coming back, but you two have been wonderful. Sure, there have been a few snags, but bumps give character."

"Yeah," he muttered, not sure what to say. He was never really sure what to say to Lulu when she had her rare moments of wisdom and reminded Jason that she was a really great person, despite all her little hang-ups, and he was finally starting to see that all those hang-ups were what Johnny probably loved the most.

"Okay, I think I'll survive," Elizabeth called out, breezing into the kitchen, dressed in her clothes from the night before. She had her purse in one hand and her bridesmaid dress in the other. "We better get going. You can't have a wedding without the bride."

"You look better," Jason teased, rolling his eyes when she grabbed his cup of coffee and took several sips.

_This was definitely one of those hang-ups he was supposed to find endearing, right? _

"You make the best coffee," she murmured, leaning down to kiss him chastely.

_Okay, so it was endearing. _

"I'll see you at the church," she said, ushering Lulu towards the door as she held her hand out.

"Take it," he muttered, handing her his cup of coffee as she hurried out of the room.

Yeah, he didn't mind being disgustingly cute with her at all.

"There," Elizabeth said softly, pulling Lulu's veil over her head, her eyes filling with tears at the sight of the blonde in her wedding dress.

She felt guilty for knocking Lulu's tastes when it came to everything about the wedding because the dress she'd chosen was absolutely gorgeous. It was the purest of whites Elizabeth had ever seen, with a beaded bodice that hugged her tightly, toto her hips where it belled out and cascaded to the floor. She looked like a princess straight out of a fairly tale.

"You look beautiful," she whispered, straightening the veil just a bit.

"What is it about weddings that make people so emotional?" Lulu asked, grabbing Elizabeth's hand and giving it a squeeze. "Thank you for everything. You've been so good to me, and I am really glad that we've become friends."

"Oh, stop it," Elizabeth sniffled, shaking her head as a tear slipped down her cheek. "You really shouldn't be so nice to mbe because you know that I couldn't stand you when you came to town."

The blonde laughed, rolling her eyes. "You're just protective of your boys and with ones like Johnny and Jason, you have to be."

"I'm sorry that I was such a bitch," she apologized, partly because she felt like she had to, but mostly because she really was.

_And that was such a rarity in itself. _

"And that I was judgmental and mean…and there may have been this one time that I-"

"Elizabeth," she interrupted, shaking her head firmly. "Let's let bygones be bygones."

"Deal," she muttered, pulling the blonde into a hug.

_All this emotional stuff was making her go extremely soft. _

"Okay, enough of that," she said, pushing her away and starting for the door. "I'm going to go find your mom and send her in so you can have that moment that I think mother and daughter are supposed to have. And then I'll make sure everything else is set."

"Stop worrying," Lulu replied, laughing softly. "Go admire Jason in his tux."

She grinned, opening the door. "Oh, that iswas definitely on my list."

"Nervous?" Jason asked, retying his tie for the fourth time. He was almost to the point of giving up completely. Johnny had offered to help, but something about that was just weird to him. And maybe he wanted to give Elizabeth a reason to touch him when she came around – _not that she needed one._

"Not really," he replied, from where he was slumped him in a chair, his trembling knees showing the truth. "Maybe a little."

"She's perfect, Jason. What if I fuck it up?" Johnny asked, swallowing hard as he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped it over his face.

"She'll forgive you."

"Not if I really fuck up."

"She will," Jason argued, sitting down across him and forcing a smile. "Uh, someone said something to me…about how if someone loves you…they always love you, regardless of circumstance. Lulu has always known who you are, and she's always loved you for it."

O'Brien nodded, letting Jason's words sink in before he spoke. "Yeah, that makes sense. I guess you learned that from, Elizabeth, huh?"

"Learned what?" she asked, peeking her head of neatly round curls in the door. They were held back from her face in a thin white headband, and she took his breath away the second he looked over at her. And when she stepped into the room in her strapless, red gown, he couldn't even speak.

"Patience," he cracked, waving her into the room.

"Oh, real funny, Johnny," she muttered, closing the door behind her. She laughed, pressing her back up against the door, her arms folded over her chest. "I can't believe this."

"What?" Jason asked, jerking his tie off and laying it over his knee.

"That we're all here," she replied, blinking to hold back her tears. _"Together."_

"Aw, Elizabeth," Johnny said, mocking her soft tone as he pulled her into a hug.

"Don't make fun of me," she laughed, hugging him briefly before pushing him away. "This whole damn thing has turned me into a mess."

"You okay?" Jason asked, not sure if he was following what was going on.

"Yeah," she replied, walking over and grabbing his tie from his lap. "I just…I can remember the way we all – the way Johnny, Jason Quartermaine, and I used to talk about stuff like this. You know, the important days that matter and how we'd be there for each other."

She swallowed hard, smoothing his tie out between her hands. "I keep – I keep thinking about how there was a time when that seemed impossible…for all of us to be together."

"It's okay," Jason sighed, reaching out to take her hand and pull her into his lap.

"Here we are," Johnny shrugged, grinning at his friends. "It's not what we planned by any means, but I wouldn't change any a single thing that's happened, even when it was hard."

"Me either," Elizabeth whispered, sucking in a deep breath as she looked between the two of them. "You've always been my best friends – my only family, and I don't know what I would do without either of you."

"Neither do we," O'Brien teased, causing her to laugh through her tears.

"Okay, enough of this," she said, sliding out of Jason's lap and motioning for him to stand. She slid the tie around his neck, tucking it beneath his collar, and tightening it a few moments later. "There."

She grinned at him as she wiped her cheeks, continuing to laugh at herself. "I swear, if either of you tells anyone about this, I'll kick your both your asses," she said, walking over to the door and pulling it open. "Now let's go. We've got to get you married, _John_."

"You're such an asshole," he muttered, heading out the door.

Jason stopped long enough to place a brief kiss on her forehead. "You alright?"

"Yeah," she replied, taking his hand as they headed out of the room. "I really am." Her eyes teared up again and she let out another groan. "I swear, I'm not crying anymore."

Only she did cry.

As she walked down the aisle, which made Johnny and Jason snicker under their breath. And the tears continued as she turned to see Lulu walking towards them, her own eyes filled with tears, and then as the two exchanged vows and shared their first kiss.

Though it could be argued that she was crying for poor Lulu who'd have to put up with Johnny's shit for the rest of their lives.

Or maybe it was because Lulu _wanted_ to put up with Johnny's shit for the rest of their lives.

_Weddings were just too much. _

She wasn't going to another for as long as she lived. She'd even avoid her own – that was if the opportunity presented itself, and it's not like she wanted to get married anyway.

Lulu had exhausted her of allall of things holy matrimony, and while so much of it was beautiful, it was more than she was prepared for. This entire situation had completely changed everything, and had anyone told Elizabeth upon Johnny's arrival that she'd end up completely taken with Jason and oblivious to the rest of the world, she would have laid everything on the line and said they were insane.

But clearly she was the crazy one – _not that she really minded. _

She felt happier and more alive in the past month than ever, and she liked knowing that she was in a good place. She could trust her feelings for Jason and she could trust him with her, and for once, her entire life just felt _right._

"You're not supposed to sneak away without me," Jason said, coming up behind her and sliding his arms around her waist.

"Well if I sneak away with you, who knows where how we'll end up and with how little clothes," she replied, turning around in his arms and leaning against the railing that surrounded the terrace.

They'd opted to go with the Port Charles Grille for the reception, chosen by Lulu because it was where Johnny had proposed. The entire restaurant had been shut down for the occasion, something the Quartermaines never did, and Elizabeth knew they'd done it for both Jason and Johnny.

"That's what makes it so fun," he muttered, taking her mouth in his and kissing her hard. She slid her arms around his neck, pulling herself against him as their tongues swirled around one another, instantly oblivious to where they were.

"Jason," she panted, tearing her mouth away to catch her breath, her hands griping his shoulders tightly. "We have to save this for later."

"Or not," he teased, starting to kiss her again.

"No," she laughed, shaking her head as she could continue to resist. Thankfully, he relented. "What am I going to do with you?"

"You love it," he replied, leaning against the railing beside her, his arm snaking around her waist.

"I have no idea why," she muttered, resting her head on his shoulder as she sighed. "It was such a good day…" She nibbled her lip as she glanced up at him. "You know, I think if I could give everyone I love one thing, it would be one perfect day."

"Johnny's happy," he said, running his hand up and down her arm. "It's like a part of him got lost for a while, but now he's back."

"I know," she agreed, grinning widely. "Everything is so good, and this part of me keeps waiting for the shoe to drop."

"What if we made it better?" he asked roughly, his shaky voice showing his nerves.

"If this is a way to ask me to sneak off to the coat closet again-"

"For once, I'm being serious, Webber," he interrupted, turning to face her.

"Oh," she whispered, straightening up, not sure if she liked the way this sounded. Jason was a relatively serious person, but not so much with her, and usually only when he was mad, so this was just…scary.

"Don't be afraid," he muttered, taking her hand and linking their fingers together.

Damn him for his uncanny ability to read her mind.

"What is it?" she asked, dropping her eyes to their hands.

"This past week has been nice," he said, sliding his other hand beneath her chin and forcing her to look at him. "I like…having you…around…all the time."

"That sounds like a painful confession," she teased, her eyes softening at his words.

"Oh, shut up," he muttered. "I'm trying to be serious."

"So am I," she argued, squeezing his hand. He rolled his eyes and gave her that stupid glare he gave when he was getting annoyed, and she would have laughed, but she was afraid to. "I'm sorry. Finish…please."

"I like having you around all the time," he repeated, sounding less pained this time, almost sincere. It even gave her chills because he was the only person thatand she wanted to be around all the time.

They really were working this whole disgustingly cute thing to the bone.

"And I was thinking – I mean, you stayed with me because I had just gotten out of the hospital. Maybe we could make it permanent." He swallowed hard, letting out a heavy sigh as she just stared at him, completely dumbfounded. "Or not."

"No, it's…" She shrugged, not sure how to explain.

No one had ever asked her to move in with them before. It was always a man wanting to stay at her place and use her things, and Jason wanted to _give_ her everything, and it was just so strange.

He couldn't even stand her half the time.

"You want me to move in with you?" she asked slowly, panic starting to set in.

"Yeah."

While every part of her wanted to say yes and pack her things immediately, there was still a lot of room for doubt.

"But I'm messy."

"I don't mind cleaning."

"I have a lot of clothes."

"I have a lot of closets."

"I leave my shoes everywhere."

"I can get you one of those organizer things you always talk about buying but never do."

"I steal your t-shirts."

"I have plenty."

"I'll get paint everywhere."

"I have a guestroom, which can be used as a studio."

"I leave pizza boxes on the floor."

"I like having pizza on hand."

"I hate doing the dishes."

"I have a dishwasher.

"I read bad romance novels."

"I have space for them on my bookshelf."

"I just have a lot of stuff."

"I can figure out where to put it, unless you don't really want to put it with any of mine."

"No," she said, sinking her teeth into her lip as she raked her hands through her hair. "I'm just…you really want me to move in with you?"

"I like having you around. I told you this already. I want your wet towels. I'll trip over your shoes. I'll let you steal my coffee. And I'll do all the cooking," he replied, rambling as he grew more and more nervous.

"I think…I'm just scared," she admitted, hating how vulnerable he could make her feel. "What if you can't stand me?"

"I already can't stand you," he reminded her, slipping his hand into his pocket. "But I want to be able to not stand you all the time."

She couldn't help but grin. "I think I'd like to annoy you all the time," she said, her eyes dropping to his hand as he pulled out a long, slim box. "What's-"

"Is that a yes?" he asked, arching an eyebrow as he tossed the box back and forth between his hands.

"What's in the box?" she asked, fighting the urge to tear it from his hands.

"Are you-"

"Jason."

Rolling his eyes, he popped it open and flipped it around in his hands, revealing a delicate red pendant on a gold chain. "I, uh, I went with Johnny to the jewelry store this morning to pick up their wedding bands. I saw it, and…"

"It's gorgeous," she breathed, taking the pendant in her hand and pulling it from the box. "Jason…"

"I know you're not a jewelry and flowers kind of girl, but it reminded me of you."

"Thank you," she said, clutching it in her palm and sliding her hands around his neck to pull him into a kiss.

"So that's a yes?" he mumbled against her mouth.

"Yes," she cried, kissing him again as she snaked his arms around her and practically lifted her up off the floor.

"A yes?"

"What?" Elizabeth asked, breaking their kiss and turning around to see Lulu standing there.

"What's this?" she asked coyly, pointing back and forth between them.

"Oh, Jason just asked me to mo-"

"Marry him?" she interrupted, rushing over to throw her arms around Elizabeth. "I just knew he was going to. I swear, the second you caught the bouquet-"

"You caught the bouquet?" Jason cut in, and she nodded at him, trying to ignore the grimace on his face.

"And Jason caught the garter!" Lulu squealed, clapping her hands. "I swear I knew in that moment what was going to happen, and I even told John you two were going to get married, and I can't believe it." She pulled Elizabeth into another hug, who was too overwhelmed by it all to even try and fix this, into another hug. "You're getting married! I have to go tell everyone!"

Jason cleared his throat as Lulu ran back into the restaurant, leaving Elizabeth all alone to fiend him off.

"Well, so much for that perfect day," she laughed, shifting her eyes to his.

"I'd say," he muttered, looking anything but amused.

"Yeah…"

"Are you going to go after her?" he asked, clenching the velvet jewelry box in his hand.

"And say what? Sorry Lulu I'm not getting married?" she asked, annoyed that he actually sounded angry with her.

It was that damn woman who had come across them and assumed the worst – or the best depending on how someone looked at it.

To Jason and Elizabeth, it was most definitely the worst.

"That's exactly what you tell her."

"This isn't my fault," she said defensively. "If you hadn't caught the stupid garter."

"You caught the bouquet first," he pointed out, pacing back and forth like he always did when he was upset.

"You're acting like I want to marry you," she huffed, peering in through the doors to see Lulu and Johnny heading back towards them.

He had a stupid grin on his face like he actually believed they were getting engaged, when the man knew otherwise.

Freaking O'Brien.

He could fuck up anything.

"I'm glad you don't because I don't want to marry you," he replied, raking a hand through his hair.

"Good, because we'd just kill each other."

"You and your stupid towels and shoes and fucking brushes," he hissed.

She was starting to wonder if he was trying to piss her off. "This from the man who polishes the balls for his pool table once a week? Do I even need to get into that system you have for those fucking books? And I am not going to point out that you iron your t-shirts."

He stopped and glared, his jaw ticking angrily.

"What?" she asked, shifting her eyes back to the door to see Johnny and Lulu getting closer.

"You think this is funny."

"It's a little funny," she said, biting her tongue when he continued to glare. "Oh come on, the last time we had a pretend relationship it worked out pretty damn well."

His shoulders relaxed just a bit and lips almost hitched into a smile. "It did."

"So, I hear there's good news?" Johnny asked, bursting onto the terrace, his hand in Lulu's.

Jason's smile faded and he shook his head, but didn't tell his friend otherwise. As for Elizabeth, she just couldn't help herself as she turned to them and shrugged, giving a weak smile.

"Surprise."

**The End**

(There will be a sequel to this story eventually. I have a promo and a blurb on my site. You can find the link in my profile. Thanks for reading!)


	37. Chapter 37

**Attention Readers:**

I just wanted to let you all know that I will **no** longer be updating my fics on this site and that within the next couple weeks or so, I'll have the account removed in its entirety.

I have been having so many issues with uploading my documents from Word and the documents still containing tons of mistakes that aren't in the copy I have saved on my computer. I've tried countless ways of avoiding this, but it's still happening, and lately I've been getting lots of PMs/Emails/Comments about the lack of editing. It's as frustrating for me as it is for you to read, and I'm tired of not being able to fix it, especially when I spend so much time editing them.

I have a personal website with all my fanfics (as well as site exclusives) that you can find here linked on my author page. For some reason I couldn't link it here - just another reason to be pissed off with this site. You do have to register an account to read, but it only takes a few minutes. I send out email alerts every time a story is updated just like you receive on here or you can bookmark a thread to receive alerts when it's updated.

If you wish to continue reading the stories, you'll have to sign up for my site. I know it's inconvenient, but has proven to be more inconvenient than anything else for me, and I'm throwing in the towel.

Hopefully you're not too pissed off at me for doing this and I'll see you on the site.

Ambs


End file.
